US President Donald Trump asserts the conflict has changed Iran’s leadership, while signalling a potential deal and imminent oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump declared on Sunday that the ongoing US-Israel war has achieved “regime change” in Iran. He made the statement to reporters aboard Air Force One, citing the number of Iranian leaders killed in the month-long conflict.
“We’re dealing with different people than anybody’s dealt with before,” Trump said. “It’s a whole different group of people. So I would consider that regime change.”
He simultaneously expressed confidence about reaching an agreement with Tehran’s new leadership. “I think we’ll make a deal with them, pretty sure… but we’ve had regime change,” he added.
Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, has been selected as the country’s new leader. His father was killed in an airstrike on February 28, which marked the start of the war.
Iran responded to the initial strikes by effectively shutting down the Strait of Hormuz. This key waterway normally transits about 20% of the world’s oil and gas, and its closure has sent global prices soaring.
President Trump indicated that relief is imminent, claiming Iran has granted concessions. “They gave us, I think, out of a sign of respect, 20 boats of oil, big, big boats of oil going through the Hormuz Strait,” he stated.
He said these shipments would be “taking place starting tomorrow morning, over the next couple of days.”
