"We don’t want to achieve regime change. We want to achieve the end of the Iranian nuclear program," Vice President JD Vance told ABC News on Sunday. "That’s what the president set us out to do."
“This mission was not and has not been about regime change,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a press conference yesterday.
Donald Trump was a bit more bombastic — surprise! — on Truth Social over the weekend. “It’s not politically correct to use the term, ‘Regime Change,’" he posted, "but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!”
I don't believe Trump meant to undercut his veep or defense secretary or that he did a 180 on his Iran policy. Most likely, Trump meant to send a message to the people of Iran that "MIGA" is within their power.
Today, the Israelis took that MIGA message, set the font size to 96, changed the color to red, and added underscoring, boldface, and italics.
You can read it yourself, just by looking at what the Israeli Air Force (IAF) chose to bomb today.
JUST IN 🔴
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) June 23, 2025
IDF Spokesperson says the latest strikes targeted multiple regime military headquarters in Iran, including the Tharallah HQ, the main IRGC command for securing Tehran against external and internal threats.
Also hit was the Sayed al-Shuhada Brigade, tasked with… pic.twitter.com/gsmIWaQm7Z
The IAF shifted gears over the last few days. They went from bombing almost exclusively military targets that are were a danger to Israel to bombing more targets that are a danger to the people of Iran.
Here's more from that Open Source Intel report:
Israeli strikes also hit intelligence and security police offices tied to internal surveillance and control.
According to the IDF, these sites are central to Iran’s military and regime enforcement apparatus. Damaging them weakens both their operational capability and internal grip on power.
You can find more reports today just like this one: "Several Basij officers were killed when a building at their eastern Tehran headquarters was completely leveled. These forces are tasked with suppressing dissent and enforcing regime control."
Basij serves as one of the regime's secret police forces.
Tehran's Evin Prison is — or rather was — a symbol of the regime's ruthlessness, just like the Bastille in pre-revolutionary France or Lefortovo prison in Moscow.
Now the front door stands wide open.
UPDATE 🔴🔴
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) June 23, 2025
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed the strikes hit the entrance of Evin Prison, in Tehran known for holding political prisoners. https://t.co/QH4uDdIQMK pic.twitter.com/E32zpgU7kJ
"The strike’s focus on the entrance suggests a calculated push to free dissidents," one X commenter noted.
If the Evin airstrike seems mostly symbolic, I'd argue that symbols matter, particularly for dictatorial regimes that can't deliver basic goods and services. One of the Islamic Republic's symbols is a countdown clock in Tehran, marking the time until 2040 — the year Ayatollah Khamenei promised would see the destruction of Israel.
Or rather was. "Israel has confirmed it destroyed the 'Destruction of Israel' countdown clock in Palestine Square," Open Source Intel also reported this morning.
You don’t bomb a clock unless you’re confident the enemy can’t hit back.
Israeli P.M. Bibi Netanyahu said last week, "The matter of changing the regime or the fall of this regime is first and foremost a matter for the Iranian people. And that's why I didn't present it as a goal. It could be a result, but it's not a stated or formal goal."
It might not be U.S. or Israeli policy to forcibly change regimes in Iran. And without boots on the ground — something neither Trump nor Netanyahu would order (thank goodness) — there's probably no way to bring an end to the odious Islamic Republic.
But if you wanted to set the stage for the Iranians to have a shot at doing the job themselves, you'd select a target list pretty much exactly like the one Jerusalem has right now.
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