White House Tries To Find Messaging Balance On Trump’s Regime Change Comment

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday sought to explain President Donald Trump’s comment suggesting he’s open to regime change in Iran, saying that the president “believes the Iranian people can control their own destiny.”

“If the Iranian regime refuses to come to a peaceful, diplomatic solution, which the president is still interested and engaging in by the way, why shouldn't the Iranian people take away the power of this incredibly violent regime that has been suppressing them for decades?” Leavitt told Fox and Friends.

She continued, “Our posture has not changed. Our military posture has not changed. These were decisive precision strikes that were successful on Saturday evening. But the president is just simply raising a good question that many people around the world are asking.”

Over the weekend, the U.S. bombed three Iranian nuclear sites — Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan — entering a conflict between Israel and Tehran just days after Trump said he would make a decision about joining the conflict in two weeks.

Though administration officials have repeatedly said the White House did not strike the Iranian nuclear sites to bring about a regime change in the country, Trump floated the idea in a social media post. He did not, however, directly call for a change in Iranian leadership.

“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!!!” Trump said in a Truth Social post over the weekend.

A White House official, granted anonymity to discuss the administration’s stance, told POLITICO that if the Iranian people were to rise up against the current regime, Trump is not saying the U.S. would contribute — but they also said Trump isn’t saying the U.S. wouldn’t contribute.

“He’s just saying the Iranian people control their own destiny and why wouldn’t there be a regime change if the regime is refusing to do what’s right by their people,” the official added.

Leavitt also told ABC News on Monday that the administration is “confident” the U.S. bombers “completely and totally obliterated” all of Iran’s nuclear sites.

“The President wouldn't have launched the strikes if we weren't confident in that,” she said. “So this operation was a resounding success, and administration officials agree with that as well as Israel.”

On Sunday, Vice President JD Vance said on NBC’s Meet the Press that the strikes on Iran “substantially delayed their development of a nuclear weapon. And that was the goal of this attack.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has advocated for a change in Iranian leadership throughout his career. In recent weeks, Netanyahu has urged the U.S. to join its war against Iran if America wants to remain safe.

Iran has already vowed retaliation for the strikes, worrying some about the safety of Americans in the region as well. But the White House official told POLITICO that “immense preparations” were taken pre-strike to minimize American troops in the region in case of retaliation.

On Monday, Leavitt said that the strikes were necessary to keep Americans both in the U.S. and the Middle East safe.

“Just to be clear, this strike on Saturday did make our homeland safer because it took away Iran's ability to create a nuclear bomb,” Leavitt said on Fox. “This is a regime that threatens death to America and death to Israel and they no longer have the capability to build this nuclear weapon and threaten the world.”

Megan Messerly contributed to this report.