Trump Calls For Iranian Regime Change As Tehran Revamps Missile Arsenal

[ad_1] President Donald Trump stated Friday that regime change in Iran “could be the very best factor that might occur,” signaling a markedly tougher posture towards Tehran as U.S. army belongings proceed to circulate into the area.

“For 47 years, they’ve been speaking and speaking and speaking, and within the meantime, we’ve misplaced loads of lives whereas they speak,” Trump stated. “Legs blown off, arms blown off, faces blown off — this has been happening for a very long time. So let’s see what occurs. Within the meantime … large energy has arrived and extra energy — as you realize, one other service goes out.”

#BREAKING: President Trump in the present day stated regime change in #Iran “could be the very best factor that might occur. For 47 years, they’ve been speaking and speaking and speaking. Within the meantime, we’ve misplaced loads of lives whereas they speak. Legs blown off, arms blown off, faces blown off. We’ve… pic.twitter.com/SVtF3MDaU8

— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) February 13, 2026

The remarks come as protection analysts say Iran’s strategic place has basically shifted following the latest 12-day battle, altering longstanding assumptions about each the regime’s sturdiness and its army priorities.

In response to senior coverage officers on the Jewish Institute of Nationwide Safety of America (JINSA), Tehran is rising from the battle weaker in some respects, however extra harmful in others.

“The clocks have been reversed,” stated Blaise Misztal, vice chairman for coverage at JINSA, referring to the steadiness between regime longevity and nuclear breakout timelines. “Their nuclear program is again to zero — and so they aren’t reinvesting,” following final yr’s Operation Midnight Hammer, that destroyed three important nuclear enrichment services in Iran.

As a substitute, Misztal and different analysts stated, Iran has redirected sources towards techniques that proved handiest throughout the preventing, notably ballistic missiles.

“Iran’s ballistic missile program has gone leaps and bounds in each high quality and amount,” stated Ari Cicurel, affiliate director of international coverage at JINSA. “They're getting gasoline mixtures from China. They began the 12-day battle with 2,500 medium-range ballistic missiles, they're already again to 2,000.”

That determine doesn't embody what Cicurel described as 1000's of short-range ballistic missiles presently in Iran’s arsenal.

Extra regarding to U.S. protection planners, in accordance with JINSA officers, is Iran’s evolving operational doctrine. Quite than counting on single-system assaults, Tehran has more and more adopted combined bombardment ways designed to overwhelm air and missile defenses. These strikes mix suicide drones, short-range missiles, and medium-range ballistic missile barrages to confuse radar, exhaust interceptors, and complicate focusing on choices.

That technique appeared to realize traction towards the tip of the battle. The USA alone expended roughly 150 Terminal Excessive Altitude Space Protection (THAAD) interceptors throughout the preventing, in accordance with JINSA estimates.

“That represents about 25% of the American stockpile,” stated Jonathan Ruhe, a fellow for American technique at JINSA. “It may take 18 months to replenish that.”

Ruhe added that Battle Secretary Pete Hegseth has already pressed producers to broaden manufacturing, however warned that industrial ramp-ups take time.

Taken collectively, the assessments paint a extra advanced image than conventional regime-change debates. Iran’s nuclear ambitions might have been set again considerably, however its typical strike capabilities, notably missiles designed to emphasize U.S. and allied defenses, are quickly rebounding.

Iranian officers, for his or her half, are publicly placing a defiant however conciliatory tone, insisting that Tehran seeks diplomacy even because it prepares for escalation.

In an interview aired Tuesday on PBS NewsHour, Iranian Overseas Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei rejected the concept Iran is driving the present confrontation, portraying the regime as a long-standing sufferer of Western aggression.

“No human particular person of frequent sense welcomes battle. Nobody desires battle,” Baghaei stated. “For the previous 47 years, we now have been going through these threats, that are illegal, unwarranted, unjustified. We have now all the time lived with these looming threats.”

Baghaei argued that Iranian society has grown accustomed to the prospect of battle and framed resistance as a matter of nationwide survival somewhat than ideological selection. “Our folks have been brave,” he stated, describing U.S. stress as an try “to impose their will on our folks.”

He additionally sought to shift duty for the breakdown in U.S.–Iran relations squarely onto Washington, citing what he described as an “illegal assault” on Iran’s nuclear services throughout earlier diplomatic efforts. “The mistrust between the US and Iran could be very deep, and it isn't due to Iran’s habits,” Baghaei claimed, including that Iran’s resolution to reenter talks regardless of previous outcomes was itself an act of restraint.

The divergence between U.S. analysts and Iranian officers is the muse of the central pressure going through U.S. policymakers: Iran publicly speaks the language of negotiation, even victimhood, whereas investing closely within the instruments of coercion. The USA, in the meantime, confronts an adversary whose nuclear clock might have been reset, however whose typical strike capability is recovering quicker than Western stockpiles will be replenished.

Trump’s feedback counsel a rising impatience with that equilibrium. Whether or not Iran’s professions of restraint sign real diplomatic openness or just a pause earlier than the subsequent section of confrontation stays the unresolved query hanging over Washington, Tehran, and the area.