John Bolton: 'We're On The Verge Of Potentially Seeing Regime Change In Iran' After Trump's Strikes

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Former National Security Advisor John Bolton spoke about President Trump's decision to strike Iranian nuclear sites in an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union."

Transcript

00:00Well, let me say this unequivocally.

00:02I think President Trump made the right decision for America to attack Iran's nuclear weapons

00:08program, and I think we're on the verge of potentially seeing regime change in Iran as

00:15part of that.

00:16I think this is a huge change in the Middle East.

00:20It was a decisive action.

00:21It was the right thing to do.

00:23I thought somebody should do it for a long time, but better late than never.

00:27Why do you think it is that President Trump did this now?

00:31Obviously, the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been pushing to do this for

00:35years, including when Trump was president the first time.

00:36Right.

00:37Well, I think because of the launching of Iran's war against Israel on October the 7th in 2023,

00:45it was going to come down to this at some point anyway.

00:47At some point anyway, this is Iran's effort to go after the little Satan, and the next

00:52target was the big Satan.

00:53So, Israel really faces an existential threat from a nuclear Iran, but Iran is not just

01:00Israel's problem.

01:02Iran is the world's problem.

01:03It's particularly the U.S. problem, and we have now acted against this nuclear proliferation

01:09threat.

01:09It's clearly the right thing to do, and if Netanyahu is going in first, help persuade the president,

01:17so much the better.

01:18So, you've obviously been in these rooms.

01:19You've seen how President Trump makes decisions.

01:22We heard late this past week that it was going to be a two-week timeline.

01:28Do you think, considering the timing of this, that two-week timeline was just a ruse?

01:31Well, he said up to two weeks, and I thought that was a pretty clear giveaway.

01:36As I say, I would have done this a long time ago.

01:39So, we'll see what happens now.

01:41This is only day one, and I think how Iran responds to this, if they're foolish enough

01:47to attack American positions, American personnel in the Middle East or anywhere around the world,

01:53what happened overnight would just seem like the beginning.

01:57So, speaking of retaliation, I mean, how do you expect Iran to retaliate?

02:02What are, in your view, their list of options, and what is the most likely thing to happen next?

02:07Well, they've got a large range of options, but the most important thing is what happens

02:11inside Iranian decision-making.

02:14So far in this war, since October the 7th, they've only had one military adversary, and

02:20that was Israel, and in fact, when Iran launched the first ballistic missile attack in human history

02:26against Israel, the Biden administration restrained Israel's response, and even the

02:32second response in October was somewhat restrained.

02:34I think if I were an Iranian general now, seeing my terrorist proxies pounded by Iran,

02:42seeing the Assad regime in Syria fall, seeing my ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs

02:48lying in ashes, I'd be saying to myself, do I really want to take on a second military

02:54adversary in the form of the United States?

02:57They need to think about it long and hard, because if they do, whether they try to close

03:01the Strait of Hormuz, whether they attack American military deployments or American civilian

03:06personnel, whether they attack oil infrastructure among the Gulf Arabs, whether they carry out

03:11terrorist attacks around the world, at that point, neither Donald Trump nor any other

03:16American president has any option but brutal force against the Iranian regime.

03:21Well, to that point, I mean, what is the risk that the U.S. gets drawn into a wider,

03:26deeper conflict that potentially involves boots on the ground?

03:29Well, I don't think there's any question of boots on the ground. The only conflict,

03:32there's only one adversary we face here, and that's Iran, and their military capability is being

03:39decimated as we speak. I think the regime is very vulnerable. I've called for regime change for a long

03:45time. I think the regime is weaker now and was weaker before October 7 than at any point since

03:511979. And every day that goes by, every military commander who's killed, every piece of ordinance

03:58that's destroyed leaves that regime weaker. The populace of Iran has seen this regime is in it for

04:05themselves for a lot of reasons. The corruption, the self-enrichment of the ayatollahs and the top

04:10generals, the economic misery across the country, the discontent of the youth. The population under

04:1630 is over 60 percent of the total population. They know they can have a different kind of life.

04:21And since the Masi Amini murder two years ago, 50 percent of the population has basically

04:27demonstrated they don't think the ayatollahs really do speak with the word of God when it comes

04:32to female dress codes. This regime is in trouble. And after last night, it's in even more trouble.

04:38You, of course, have personal experience with this. You are the target of an assassination

04:43attempt. The president stripped your Secret Service, your law enforcement protection when

04:51he came into office. Do you face greater risk today from the Iranians? And do others who face

04:57similar personal threats on American soil face greater threats today?

05:02I think we do. I think it's not just me, of course. It's a list of people that the Iranians have

05:07targeted. And it's not just present and former government officials. It's Iranian Americans,

05:13people in the Iranian diaspora. This is a terrorist regime.

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