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

Forbes Breaking News

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.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended