Donald Trump says regime change in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen” as a second US aircraft carrier is deployed to the Middle East.
The US president made the remarks after visiting troops at Fort Bragg in North Carolina on Friday, where he was pressed by reporters on whether he wanted to see a change in government in Iran.
“It seems like that would be the best thing that could happen,” Mr Trump said.
“For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking.
“In the meantime, we’ve lost a lot of lives while they talk. Legs blown off, arms blown off, faces blown off. We’ve been going on for a long time.”
Mr Trump declined to name who he hoped would assume control from the clerical regime, saying only “there are people”.
He said the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, was being sent to the Middle East in case talks between the US and Iran fail to produce an agreement.
“In case we don’t make a deal, we’ll need it,” he said.
“It’ll be leaving very soon.”
The USS Gerald R Ford reallocation forms part of a build-up of US military assets in the Middle East amid deepening tensions between Washington and Tehran.
The USS Abraham Lincoln and accompanying guided-missile destroyers were deployed last month.
Mr Trump speaks to reporters at Fort Bragg. Pic: PA
Last week, US forces shot down an Iranian drone that approached the USS Abraham Lincoln on the same day that Iran tried to stop a US-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian and American officials met in Oman last week for talks, but an agreement has not been reached.
Mr Trump has repeatedly threatened to take military action against Iran if the government uses force to suppress anti-regime protests.
On Friday, Mr Trump suggested that a deal could still be struck with Iran to avoid US military action.
“Give us the deal that they should have given us the first time,” he said. “If they give us the right deal, we won’t do that.”
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that any US military action against the country would plunge the entire region into war.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in Tehran. Pic: Reuters
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More talks between Washington and Tehran are anticipated, with a US delegation including Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner due to meet with the Iranians on Tuesday, sources have told Reuters.
Iran’s nuclear programme has also been a repeated source of tension, with Mr Trump suggesting that one of his top priorities was for Tehran to scale back its atomic programme.
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But on Friday he suggested that was only one aspect of the concessions the US expected from Iran.
“If we do it, that would be the least of the mission,” Mr Trump said about targeting Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met with Mr Trump in Washington this week for talks, has pushed for any deal to include steps to neutralise Iran’s ballistic missile programme.
The US targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities in strikes in June in the culmination of the 12-day war between Iran and Israel.
