‘MIGA!’: Trump floats Tehran regime change as Iran’s proxies said prepping to hit US bases
US warns its citizens of ‘heightened threat,’ urges caution; Iranian official says US forces in Mideast ‘legitimate targets’; no injuries as one missile fired at Israel overnight
US President Donald Trump on Sunday publicly mused about potential regime change in Iran, despite previous assurances from senior figures in his administration that toppling the Islamic Republic was not an American goal.
Meanwhile, Tehran threatened to retaliate for American strikes on its nuclear program by hitting US bases across the region, and it continued to attack Israel — though its only attack overnight Sunday-Monday included just one ballistic missile, which was intercepted by the Israel Defense Forces.
The overnight launch triggered sirens throughout central Israel, sending millions to bomb shelters around 3 a.m. It was intercepted, the military said, and there were no reports of injuries as a result of the attack.
So far, Iran’s missile attacks have killed 24 people and wounded thousands in Israel, according to health officials and hospitals. Some of the missiles that have not been intercepted by Israeli air defenses have hit apartment buildings, a university and a hospital, causing heavy damage.
Also early Monday, the Israeli Air Force downed a drone launched toward the southern city of Eilat before it crossed into Israeli territory, the IDF said, without elaborating on the drone’s origin. No sirens sounded amid that incident.
The threats and attacks came after Washington, early Sunday morning, joined Israel’s war against Iran, conducting strikes against the Islamic Republic’s main nuclear sites.
In a post to his Truth Social platform Sunday evening, Trump wrote: “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??? MIGA!!!”
The post came after several of his senior officials insisted on Sunday that regime change was not a goal of the US operation, with US Vice President JD Vance telling NBC’s Meet the Press, “We’re not at war with Iran,” and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling the strikes “not a regime change move.”
In separate posts Sunday night, Trump said the B-2 bombers that struck Iran’s nuclear sites early Sunday had “just landed, safely, in Missouri,” hailing “a job well done” and claiming “monumental” damage to the facilities.
In another post hours later, Trump referred to undisclosed satellite images and said — apparently speaking about the underground Fordo nuclear site — that the “biggest damage took place far below ground level,” claiming that “Obliteration is an accurate term” and adding: “Bullseye!!!”
In another post, Trump wrote: “We had a spectacular military success yesterday, taking the ‘bomb’ right out of their hands (and they would use it if they could!).”
Trump’s posts came as Iran threatened US bases in the Middle East, following the massive airstrikes that Washington said had destroyed Tehran’s nuclear program, though some officials cautioned that the extent of damage was unclear.
Trump urged Iran to end the conflict after he launched the surprise bunker-buster strikes on a key underground uranium enrichment site at Fordo, along with nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Natanz.
Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said bases used by US forces could be attacked in retaliation.
“Any country in the region or elsewhere that is used by American forces to strike Iran will be considered a legitimate target for our armed forces,” Velayati said in a message carried by the official IRNA news agency.
“America has attacked the heart of the Islamic world and must await irreparable consequences.”
US braces for Iranian response to strikes on nuclear sites
While warning Iran against retaliation and offering to halt further attacks on Iran, the US also braced for a possible reprisal, ordering staff from its diplomatic missions in Iraq and Lebanon to leave the countries.
The US Department of Homeland Security warned Americans that the “ongoing Iran conflict is causing a heightened threat environment in the United States.”
The US State Department said it “advises US citizens worldwide to exercise increased caution,” amid “the potential for demonstrations against US citizens and interests abroad.”
The US has begun flights to evacuate US citizens from Israel, and provided a form online for Americans looking to join one. No such flights are expected for citizens looking to leave Iran, the State Department noted.
Meanwhile, more American diplomatic personnel left Iraq on Saturday and Sunday as part of ongoing efforts to “streamline operations,” a US official told AFP.
In Lebanon, the US embassy announced on Sunday that the State Department had ordered the family members of its staffers and non-emergency US government personnel to leave the country. A statement on the embassy website cited “the volatile and unpredictable security situation in the region.”
Iran-backed militias said planning attacks on US bases
On Sunday night, a US official was cited by The New York Times as saying that the American military and intelligence officials had detected signs of Iran-backed groups preparing to attack US bases in Iraq.
So far, the groups have held off on striking the American targets, and Iraqi officials are working to dissuade them from attacking, the official said.
Iraq has for years navigated a delicate balancing act between its allies, Tehran and Washington, and has also long been a fertile ground for proxy battles.
On Sunday, the Iraqi government expressed “its deep concern and strong condemnation of the targeting of nuclear facilities” in Iran, spokesperson Basim Alawadi said.
“This military escalation constitutes a grave threat to peace and security in the Middle East and poses serious risks to regional stability,” he added.
Additionally, NBC reported Sunday that Iran had communicated to Trump several days before the US strike that it could activate sleeper cells to attack the American homeland in response to an attack on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities.
The message reportedly made its way to the US president during the G7 summit in Canada last week, which Trump left early.
Neither the White House nor the Iranian Mission to the UN responded to requests for comment on the NBC report, which cited two US officials and a person with knowledge of the threat.
A European diplomat also told NBC that the US and its allies believe Iran has the ability to attack American and European nationals “beyond US soil and beyond the Middle East.”
The US strikes on Sunday came a week into Israel’s sweeping assault, which began June 13, targeting Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and the country’s ballistic missile program.
Israel says the campaign is necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its declared plan to destroy the Jewish state.
Iran, which avowedly seeks Israel’s destruction, has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it has enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, has obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Israel says it has recently taken steps toward weaponization.
Iran has retaliated to Israel’s attacks by launching over 550 ballistic missiles and around 1,000 drones at Israel. So far, Iran’s missile attacks have killed 24 people and wounded thousands in Israel, according to health officials and hospitals. Some of the missiles have hit apartment buildings, a university and a hospital, causing heavy damage.
The Times of Israel Community.