US admits attempts at regime-change in Iran

Washington’s efforts spanning over 20 years have proven unsuccessful, the US secretary of state has acknowledged 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has publicly admitted that over the past two decades Washington has conducted experiments seeking regime change in Iran. Efforts to topple the Islamic Republic's leadership, however, have failed, he admitted.  

Blinken was speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Wednesday when he was asked if the US should adopt a policy of regime change in Iran.  

“I think if we look at the last 20 years, our experiments in regime change have not exactly been resounding successes,” Blinken said, to laughter from the audience.  

He attributed the failure to instigate regime change to the absence of diplomatic relations between Washington and Tehran since April 1980, when President Jimmy Carter severed ties with Iran following the 1979 hostage crisis.  

Blinken stressed “complicated” dynamics in Iran, noting that the US in many ways is “not the best source of a clear view on that” because the two countries have been disengaged. He claimed that the narrative of opposition to the Islamic Republic is “reflective of at least half the population” but “not as clear-cut as that.”   

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He did admit that there is a “very conservative element in Iran that’s significant in number that probably remains beholden to the regime.”  

He also acknowledged that Washington had tried to stir up Iranian society, noting, however, that “it’s really hard to do from the outside.”  

“What we’ve tried to do, at different points in time, is, to the best of our ability, further empower people inside Iran who want a different future for the country – to be able to communicate, to be able to stand up, to be able to have some resources to do that,” the secretary of state said.    

Blinken also suggested that Tehran could be seriously considering developing a nuclear weapon amid increased tensions in the Middle East, adding that the administration of incoming President Donald Trump will have to negotiate with Tehran to prevent it from making a bomb.  

During his first presidential term from 2017 to 2021, Trump pulled out of the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal, which was intended to make it harder for Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, and waged what he called a “maximum pressure campaign.”  

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources, that Trump’s transition team is considering options for targeting Iran, including a direct attack on its nuclear facilities.