Trump urges Iranians to "take over your government" as carriers deploy

President Donald Trump urged Iranians to "take over your government" in an eight-minute video posted on his Truth Social account and during remarks at Fort Bragg, while his administration confirmed moving a second aircraft carrier group into the Middle East as part of stepped-up pressure on Tehran.

In the video Mr. Trump said the United States had launched a "massive and ongoing" military campaign intended to decimate Iran's military, eliminate its nuclear program and bring about a change in government. He called regime change "the best thing that could happen" and argued the Iranian threat had persisted "for 47 years," tracing a line to the 1979 hostage crisis. At Fort Bragg he urged Tehran to "give us a deal that they should have given us the first time," and declined to name who might lead Iran, saying only that "there are people" who could take over.

The White House confirmed deployment of a second carrier group to the region and Mr. Trump posted an aerial photograph of the USS Gerald R Ford on his platform, saying the vessel would relocate "very soon" to join the USS Abraham Lincoln, which is already in the area. The administration has linked naval moves to diplomatic leverage as negotiators press Tehran on nuclear limits and other demands. U.S. officials say targeting Iran's nuclear program remains a priority; Mr. Trump said striking the nuclear infrastructure "would be the least of the mission," while separately answering in a televised exchange that "we don't want any enrichment."

Those public pronouncements come as U.S. and allied envoys weigh whether hard military posture will compel Tehran back to the negotiating table or instead deepen confrontation. U.S. delegations and other interlocutors have signaled further talks may be scheduled in Geneva to address enrichment levels and ballistic missile and proxy activity, while Israel pressed similar demands during a recent visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington.

Analysts warn that calls for rapid regime change underestimate Iran's institutional resilience. Negar Mojtahedi, an analyst who has studied the country's security networks, cautions that a leadership shake-up need not produce liberal reform and that the Islamic Republic's security services, economic links involving the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and clerical legitimacy structures are designed to survive decapitation strikes and political shocks. She argues that removing senior figures can drive remnants deeper underground, making survival rather than immediate transformation the likely outcome.

The public push for regime change raises sharp questions of international law and regional stability. Calls by a sitting U.S. president for another country's population to "take over your government" run into norms against nonintervention and heighten the risk of escalation, diplomats say. Iran's supreme leader has not yet issued a response to the U.S. statements.

Pentagon and White House officials have been asked for detailed timelines and legal rationales for naval movements and any kinetic options; military officials have so far described movements as deterrent pressure. The coming days will test whether a mix of naval force and public rhetoric produces concessions in negotiations, accelerates covert and overt conflict across the region, or hardens Tehran's resolve.