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Right-wing media can't decide if regime change in Iran has happened, should happen, or was ever meant to happen

Written by Gideon Taaffe

Published

Throughout the war with Iran, the Trump administration’s messaging on regime change has been murky. Senior officials and President Donald Trump himself have voiced interest in “a change in power” in Tehran, while also suggesting that regime change is not one of the war’s objectives. 

Likewise, right-wing media have struggled to articulate a coherent response to the possibility of regime change in Iran, with some encouraging it while others say it's not a goal of the war. 

There have also been conflicting opinions about whether regime change has already occurred. Some of the war’s top media supporters have claimed that “this regime lost,” while more critical figures questioned the success of the effort: “We didn't get regime change, we didn't stop them from shooting missiles, and they own the Strait of Hormuz.” 

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  • The Trump administration has made conflicting statements on regime change in Iran

    • In June of 2025, Trump “backed away from talk of a regime change in Iran” after initially suggesting it was a possibility. He told reporters last summer, “Regime change takes chaos, and ideally, we don’t want to see so much chaos.” [The Hill, 6/24/25]
    • On February 13, in the lead-up to the war, Trump claimed that a “change in power” in Tehran “would be the best thing that could happen.” [The Associated Press, 2/13/26]
    • On March 2, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said, “This is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change and the world is better off for it.” Hegseth also commented, “No stupid rules of engagement, no nation building quagmire, no democracy building exercise, no politically correct wars. We fight to win, and we don't waste time or lives.” [PBS, 3/2/26]
    • In late March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested regime change is a goal of the U.S. war in Iran. Rubio told the press: “We would always welcome a scenario in which Iran was led by people that had a different view of the future,” adding, “If that opportunity presents itself, we’re going to take it.” [Al Jazeera, 3/30/26]
    • On April 1, Trump claimed that “regime change was not our goal” in Iran but that “regime change has occurred.” He also told reporters on Air Force One: “The one regime was decimated, destroyed, they’re all dead. The next regime is mostly dead.” [CNN, 4/4/26]
    • Iran’s government appears to be largely intact, with Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the previous ayatollah’s son, as supreme leader and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in charge. While Khamenei has not been seen publicly, the Trump administration has been negotiating with Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf. The BBC reported, “In practice, it is the IRGC's actions, whether in enforcing the closure of Hormuz or in striking targets across the Gulf, that appear to be setting the pace of the crisis. Political and diplomatic responses often follow rather than lead.” [BBC, 4/24/26]

  • Some MAGA media figures have argued Iran’s leadership must be eliminated

    • Fox News host Mark Levin said in February, “We want that regime taken out for several reasons, not the least of which is our own national security and defense of our generation.” [Westwood One, The Mark Levin Show, 2/27/26]
    • Levin reiterated in April: “This government has to go. It's an illegitimate government, it slaughters its own people.” Levin added, “We take this regime out, we put in a temporary government, and they can figure out what to do. … We’re taking out that regime because it’s our enemy.” [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 4/9/26]
    • On his radio show, Fox host Sean Hannity commented, “Trump says he wants to be involved in picking Iran's next leader. Well, I hope he is.” He continued, “And we'll get somebody that's actually going to offer freedom for the people of Iran so they have a better chance, and the return of the great Persian Empire would be pretty cool in our lifetime.” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 3/5/26]
    • Discussing the Iranian leaders, Fox host Lawrence Jones said: “I feel like at the end of the day, you have to kill them. You really do. These aren’t people that are going to negotiate.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 3/10/26]
    • Right-wing streamer Zack Hoyt, known online as Asmongold, claimed: “The only thing that I want to see come out of Iran is complete regime destruction. I want to see total regime change and the dismantling of the IRGC completely and the removal of the Islamic theocracy.” He added, “I think anything less than that is a failure.” [YouTube, Asmongold TV, 4/3/26; Media Matters, 12/11/25]
    • On March 5, Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro told his audience that the U.S. and Israel are doing not regime change but “regime destruction or replacement, where we knock over a regime and let it fall and then we don’t actually participate in long-term nation-building.” He added, “Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.” [The Daily Wire, The Ben Shapiro Show, 3/5/26]

  • Some right-wing media figures, including some who have supported regime change, have claimed regime change is not a Trump policy

    • Sean Hannity claimed, “That’s not the president’s stated goal. Regime change has never been a stated goal.” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 4/20/26]
    • Fox News host Brian Kilmeade said: “The president thinks this, but he knows using the term regime change is not something that really works in our favor. We don't want to go do that and flip every ugly government in that direction.” He added, “If we pull back and then we watch this supreme leader do what Saddam Hussein did in the first Persian Gulf war and just annihilate thousands of people, that's going to be on us, so we have to find a way to help the people.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 4/15/26]
    • Ben Shapiro claimed Trump “never said” he wanted regime change in Iran but that he wanted “regime change behavior.” [The Daily Wire, The Ben Shapiro Show, 4/10/26]
    • Speaking with Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX), Fox News host Laura Ingraham said regime change would be “phenomenal” and “fabulous” but it is not Trump’s military goal. Ingraham: “I mean, that wasn't what the American people thought they were getting with President Trump when they elected him was someone who wanted regime change in Iran. We wanted to eliminate them as a threat. And I think the administration itself has said that regime change — fairly consistently — although it would be great, they have said is not their goal. Am I missing something here? It seems like we're leapfrogging to regime change, which again, would be fabulous.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 3/30/26]
    • On March 3, Ingraham claimed regime change is “not what this is about.” She continued,  “Regime change would be great and we should be happy if it happens, but if we're there waiting for Iran to become like Tennessee, that's going to be years.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 3/3/26]

  • Sean Hannity and Mark Levin, two of the war’s top supporters on Fox News, have echoed Trump’s line that regime change has already happened

    • Mark Levin claimed, “The fact of the matter is that we went to war with this regime and this regime lost.” He added, “We did not go to war with the people of Iran. They are two separate things. We don't want a democracy project. The American people don't want a democracy project — so what? We take this regime out, we put in a temporary government, and they can figure out what they are going to do and whether they want a democracy or whether they want a king or a prince or a queen. That whole area is full of dictators and monarchs. If that’s what they want, that’s great.” Levin reportedly played a key role in Trump’s decision to launch airstrikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities last June, and he encouraged the president to launch new strikes on Iran in February. [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 4/9/26; Media Matters, 2/19/26, 2/28/26]
    • Sean Hannity said: “Of course, regime change would be great, which kind of already happened now that we're at the fourth and fifth tier of leadership.” Hannity added, “That was never the objective of Operation Epic Fury. This was always about securing America — eliminating the nuclear threat to the American people.” As with Levin, Hannity has been a major cheerleader for Trump’s war with Iran. [Fox News, Hannity, 3/30/26; Media Matters, 3/2/26, 3/12/26]

  • Others say regime change hasn’t happened

    • Right-wing podcaster Megyn Kelly: “Don't tell me there's been regime change because three guys named Abdul are gone and three guys named Muhammed are in.” Kelly said the initial goal of the war was “freedom” for Iran and “regime change,” but “now he [Trump] keeps saying we’ve done regime change, which we clearly haven’t. That’s a lie too. And it’s so transparent. … Don't tell me there's been regime change because three guys named Abdul are gone and three guys named Mohammad are in. That’s basically how it is. The only difference as far as I can tell is that the three new guys seem more radical.” [SiriusXM, The Megyn Kelly Show, 4/21/26]
    • White nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes: “We didn't get regime change, we didn't stop them from shooting missiles, and they own the Strait of Hormuz now.” [Rumble, America First with Nick Fuentes, 4/8/26; Media Matters, 3/31/26]
    • Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum said to Mark Levin: “We have not had a regime change. The same guys are in charge. Am I right?” [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 4/9/26]
    • The Charlie Kirk Show’s Blake Neff said: “The reason we got here is we attempted to do regime change, and it didn't succeed. Let's be frank.” Co-host Andrew Kolvet responded, saying, “We turned over the top of the Iranian regime. But, yeah, the IRGC, the regime is still in power, still entrenched in that country, still running things. It's very clear.” [Rumble, The Charlie Kirk Show, 4/9/26]
    • On War Room, Jim Rickards claimed, “There's not going to be regime change. We're past that.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 4/7/26]