US officers, a lot of whom witnessed Republican President George W Bush’s recognition collapse following his disastrous intervention in Iraq in 2003, have pressured that they weren’t working to overthrow Iran’s authorities.
“This mission was not and has not been about regime change,” Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth advised reporters on the Pentagon. “The president authorised a precision operation to neutralise the threats to our nationwide pursuits posed by the Iranian nuclear programme.”
Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Trump ally, mentioned on NBC’s “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker” program that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had advised him his nation would now not endure being underneath missile assault.
“They are not going to reside underneath risk from Iran anymore,” Graham mentioned. “Israel’s decided. This regime goes to alter in one in every of two methods: they will change their conduct, which I doubt, the regime itself, or the individuals are going to exchange the regime.”
Iranians contacted by Reuters described their worry on the prospect of an enlarged struggle involving the US.
“Our future is darkish. We’ve nowhere to go – it is like dwelling in a horror film,” Bita, 36, a trainer from the central metropolis of Kashan, mentioned earlier than the telephone line was reduce.
A lot of Tehran, a capital metropolis of 10 million individuals, has emptied out, with residents fleeing to the countryside to flee Israeli bombardment.
Iranian authorities say greater than 400 individuals have been killed since Israel’s assaults started, largely civilians. Israel’s bombardment has scythed by way of a lot of Iran’s navy management with strikes focused at bases and residential buildings the place senior figures slept.
