US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he“never cared about regime change” in Iran, while suggesting that recent US and Israeli actions had already altered Tehran’s leadership structure.
Speaking at the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, Trump said Iran had lost successive layers of leadership.
“You talk about regime change. I never cared about regime change. It [was] never a part,” Trump said. “But I guess you have regime change because you know better than anybody, the first group, they’re all dead. The second group is dead. A part of the third group is gone.”
#WATCH | Evian, France: US President Donald Trump says, "The only thing that really matters to me is Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. And it says it loud and clear. They're not going to develop it. They're not going to buy it. They're not going to do anything with it. And… pic.twitter.com/VvwFPZjbLE
— ANI (@ANI) June 16, 2026Trump described Iran’s current leadership as pragmatic, saying US officials were dealing with “very rational people” who were “strong” and “smart.”
He said the current group was “smarter than the first and second group” and was “looking to help their country.”
The remarks marked a softer tone from earlier comments attributed to Trump at the start of the conflict in late February, when he called on Iranians to overthrow their government after US strikes.
Read: US-Iran Agreement Set for Friday Signing in Switzerland
“When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take,” Trump said at the time. Trump later restated his opposition to externally driven regime change, saying he had watched such efforts for years and believed “they never work.”
