US vice president: Iran regime change welcome but not main goal

Washington/London (dpa/PA) – US officials have stressed that President Donald Trump's actions in Iran are not primarily aimed at regime change.

In an interview with Fox News published on Monday, Vice President JD Vance said that "in a perfect world," the United States would welcome a leader in Tehran willing to cooperate with Washington. But Trump's main objective, he said, is to ensure that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon, regardless of who is in power.

"Whatever happens with the regime in one form or another, it's incidental to the president's primary objective here, which is to make sure the Iranian terrorist regime does not build a nuclear bomb," he said.

"Obviously, the president and I would prefer that you have a friendly regime in Iran ... but fundamentally, so long as we achieve the president's objective to make it clear that Iran can't build the bomb, I think the president will be happy with the outcome."

Trump urges Iranian people to take control

In his first video message following Israeli and US strikes on Iran on Saturday, Trump urged Iranians to take control of their government. "When we are finished, take over your government," he said to the country's 90 million citizens.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday emphasized a distinction between the US administration's secondary desires and the concrete objectives of its operations. While a change in leadership in Iran might be welcome, the priority is to ensure that whoever rules in the coming year does not possess drones or ballistic missiles.

The widening war between Iran and the US and its allies has entered its fourth day, after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer rebuked Donald Trump's approach to the conflict.

Starmer: "No regime change from the skies"

Starmer on Monday said his government "does not believe in regime change from the skies", in an apparent criticism of the US bombing campaign in the Middle East.

Starmer also told the parliament on Wednesday he stood by his decision not to get involved with the initial wave of US and Israeli strikes on Iran and insisted any action by the United Kingdom "must always have a lawful basis and a viable thought-through plan".

Mr Trump had criticised Starmer's decision not to allow US jets to deploy from UK bases to undertake the strikes, telling the Telegraph he was "very disappointed" in the Starmer.

UK bases are now in play in the conflict, but only so the US can strike defensively to protect countries being targeted by Tehran.

This is understood to include the joint US-UK Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.