US President Trump: 'Why wouldn't there be a Regime change' in Iran?

US President Donald Trump on Sunday signalled support for a change in leadership in Iran, hours after his officials said that the US operation targeting Iranian nuclear facilities overnight was not about a regime change in Tehran.

"It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change???" Trump stated on his Truth Social platform.

Earlier on Sunday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told journalists at the Pentagon that the overnight strike on the nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow was carried out to eliminate the threat to US interests posed by Iran's nuclear programme, not to bring about regime change in Tehran.

"The president authorized a precision operation to neutralize the threats to our national interests posed by the Iranian nuclear programme and the collective self-defence of our troops and our ally Israel," Hegseth said.

US Vice President JD Vance also emphasized that Iran's nuclear programme was the target. "We are not at war with Iran, we are at war with Iran's nuclear programme," he told NBC on Sunday.

While Hegseth and Vance maintained that the attacks were not aimed at toppling the Iranian leadership, there is certainly a camp in Trump's Republican Party that has long been seeking a political overthrow in Tehran.

Israel launched large-scale attacks on Iranian targets on June 13, saying it aims to prevent the country from building a nuclear weapon, a charge Tehran has consistently denied.

Iran has retaliated with waves of missile and drone strikes on Israel.

Before June 13, Tehran had been in negotiations with the US over its nuclear programme. Further planned talks were cancelled after the beginning of the war between Israel and Iran.