Posted on 03/23/2026 7:15:34 AM PDT by Miami Rebel
President Donald Trump on Monday told CNBC’s Joe Kernen that Iran is in the process of regime change following his latest talks with the country.
Moments before their phone call, Trump revealed in a Truth Social post that he had “productive conversations” with Iranian leadership. As a result of those conversations, the president said, there would be a temporary halt to military strikes on Iranian targets. Operation Epic Fury, the operation that began the war in Iran three weeks ago, killed more than four dozen members of the Iranian leadership, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Iran, however, said “there has been no direct or indirect contact” with Trump and denied his claims that there were talks.
Following the death of the supreme leader, it was announced that Mojtaba Khamenei — Ali’s son —had been chosen to succeed him. The Trump administration has repeatedly claimed that Mojtaba was seriously wounded in a strike and that his current status is unknown.
Although Mojtaba’s reign was widely considered a continuation of his father’s, Trump insisted the country was undergoing regime change as a result of the war. Reporting on his call with the president, Kernen said:
"I just spoke to the President. President Trump said the discussions have been very good over the last 48 hours, very intense discussions. I said, 'Well, with whom?' I thought, you know, there aren’t a lot of leaders left alive. He said they have representatives. Obviously, that’s been one of the things that Iran has tried to say, that we’ve got a structure more than any one person.
"The President went on to say, or insist, that this is regime change because it’s totally different people that were involved in the last regime. I would imagine some of the people are the same. This is the president’s take on that, insisting that it’s regime change. He went on to say great meetings, great conversations, and hopes that within the next five days something very substantive can be arrived at for the end of hostilities."
You are another incorrigible BLOWHARD that has been consistently WRONG!
Oh yeah….I’ll trust what you say way before I trust the President’s actions thus far?!?!!!
Agreed. If the IRGC is able to negotiate some form of staying in power (any form) we will just be kicking the can down the road. Sure, we bombed them back to the stone age, but we will have to do it again sometime in the future.
I’m not going to second guess our military and President on what may be required.
Exactly. This is why Trump has stated specifically, on more than one occasion, that he would not leave this task to future presidents.
The Islamic regime will not be allowed to stay in power. Whether this is done through negotiation, an army of Iranians in the streets, or divine intervention, I really don't care. The IRGC must and will be removed from power in Iran.
In Trump’s Truth Social post he says he will NOT strike energy or power plant strikes. He DIDN’T say ALL strikes were stopped, so why does THIS article state in the second paragraph that ALL military strikes have been stopped?
Exactly. I simply don’t understand why day after day after day, people on this very forum just do not seem to grasp that concept at all.
At the very least, this was about buying more time and setting them back for a number of years. Regime change would a desirable happenstance, but it isn’t part of the “plan”.
And the title of the thread is based on Joe Kernan’s quote characterizing HIS interpretation of Trump’s statement.
But it IS, after all, Mediaite, and this is Miami Rebel posting the thread, so this dishonesty is all expected.
New boss same as the old boss.
Trump needs to get his meds checked. This old man has changed his support towards trump as a negative. If he cant keep his goals straight, we will never win this ill conceived war. Unlike GWB, he had a strong coalition together with congress approval even though it was based on lies.
Hopefully enough time to recover for the mid-terms.
Agreed. I was not sure why we did this war in the first place. It makes sense for Israel. But not USA.
Consider the source...
I wonder why I am thinking that the announcement about bombing power plants made on Friday afternoon wans’t just a ploy to bounce the stock market so someones could play the futures when they opened for trade Sunday evening?
I expect the Iranians to lie but why would they lie about NOT having talks with Trump?
I see that this morning they also have added new threats from Iran.
But it’s only stopping the targeting of energy I’m assuming otherwise if the regime stays in tact this was for nothing
I thing that using cell phones to help Israel target IRGC operators is a good strategy, especially for a disarmed population.
As Solzhenitsyn wrote in “The Gulag Archipelago”:
“…what would things have been like if, every time the agents… came out at night to make an arrest, people had been unsure whether they would return alive…?”
The Persians have taken this to heart..
I’m not going to bend over backward to act like he has some genius communication strategy. He doesn’t. He’s all over the map. He says regime change one day and then says he is close to a deal with the IRGC-backed government and is going to start ramping down the war the next. He may commit troops; he may not. Some of this is keeping his options open and keeping Iran guessing but some of it is a lack of message discipline. Its going to hurt him in the end unless, by some miracle, the regime collapses and a Western-friendly regime takes over and shuts down the nuclear program, missile production and terror campaign.
Iran has no qualms about killing their own.
Don’t mind your puerile insults. Actually wish you were right and I am wrong. However facts are facts and the truth must be faced. There will not be regime change, the uranium will remain unsecured and the goons will suppress and continue to murder the terrified Iranian people. The evil Democrats will probably take power. The American nation and its people will suffer. Nor will this disuade the globalists and the neocons from involving America in future foreign entanglements.
For about a week, all public releases have been pointed at NYMEX oil prices and the S&P. There is no change in this.
It will work for a few hours.
Then some tanker will try to run the gauntlet outside the Iran designated channel and it will get hit — noting this is a violation of “joint control”.
“Trump is fairly gullible and they convinced him they were a day or two from a bomb....”
Nope, Trump said they were close to having the material necessary to make the bomb.
You are a forked-tongued liar, or stupid, or both.
So I have a conundrum for which someone somewhere may have a solution, and you may be able to point me to it.
Iran seems to have some several hundred pounds of 60%+ enriched uranium, enough for several nukes with just a bit more processing.
Where is it?
How could we get at it?
The other primary objectives seem to have been mostly achieved already. But an Iran without nukes for any meaningful period of time can only be achieved by physically removing, or blowing to smithereens, all that uranium.
Any ideas on how we accomplish that?
Dessert RINO is only an anti-Semite, so far as I can tell. So, since Israel is involved, he’a “agin’ it.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.