Speaking to reporters at Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina on February 13, US President Donald Trump said, unambiguously for the first time perhaps, that regime change in Iran is “the best thing that could happen”.  

Ever since late January the US administration has been building up a massive naval and military presence in the region, nominally to pressure Iran over its nuclear program, ballistic missiles, regional proxies, and internal repression. Trump has consistently tied the US military build-up to his insistence that Iran must never acquire nuclear weapons.  

In his remarks at Fort Bragg Trump declined to specify whom he wanted to take over in Iran, but noted “there are people” who could.  One such, of course, is the late Shah’s son and heir, Reza Pahlavi, who has acquired significant support both within the country and among the Iranian diaspora as a potential future leader.  US special envoy Steve Witkoff is reported to have met with Pahlavi at least once, but probably more often, in the past few weeks.

At the inaugural meeting of Gaza’s Board of Peace on February 19, Trump said that if the regime did not accept stricter limits “within days,” unspecified but “very bad” consequences might follow.  The latest round of US-Iranian negotiations in Geneva ended on February 26.  Unsatisfied with Iran’s delaying tactics, Trump ordered a military strike on the morning of February 28.

Speaking via his Truth Social medium, Trump was crystal clear about one major objective of the joint US-Israeli attack.  Addressing the Iranian people direct, he said:

“For many years, you........

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