Trump indicates he initially thought regime change was possible in Iran before he changed his tune

US President Donald Trump indicates that he initially thought regime change was possible in Iran.

In his February 28 speech announcing the launch of the US-Israeli war against Iran, Trump called on Iranians to take over their government when the bombing subsides.

Trump is asked in a Fox News interview whether he thought regime change was possible at the time.

“Yeah I did. If they had guns, if they had weapons…I had no idea that they’d be willing to kill 52,000 or even any people,” Trump claims.

That speech was given after Iran had already mowed down thousands of protesters in the weeks leading up to the war.

Fox News: "When you made those remarks, did you believe regime change was possible at that time?"

President Trump: "Yeah I did. If they had guns, if they had weapons…I had no idea that they'd be willing to kill 52,000 or even any people." pic.twitter.com/fV0sYHnr0x

— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) July 15, 2026

Trump has separately blamed Kurdish fighters in Iraq for holding on to the weapons that had reportedly been supplied to them by Israel for use in a cross-border attack against Iranian regime forces.

Israel also reportedly sought to recruit former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as part of its regime change plan that went badly awry.

Trump backed away from his encouragement of anti-government protests in Iran within days of the war’s launching, asserting that dissidents are outmatched given that they don’t have weapons.

He instead has taken to claiming that he has actually achieved regime change in Iran by taking out many of the countries leaders in the war, even though the regime itself is still standing and in some accounts has been strengthened.