United States President Donald Trump declared on Sunday that the month-long war against Iran has produced regime change, as Tehran launched fresh strikes on Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and Pakistan led a new international effort to broker a ceasefire.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on March 29 while flying from West Palm Beach, Florida, to Joint Base Andrews, Trump said the original Iranian leadership had been “decimated and destroyed” and described the current leadership as “much more reasonable.” “We’ve had regime change, if you look already, because the one regime was decimated, destroyed they’re all dead. The next regime is mostly dead, and the third regime, we’re dealing with different people than anybody’s dealt with before,” Trump said.
Reporters asked Trump whether newly appointed Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei son of Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an airstrike on February 28 was still alive. Trump responded that he may be alive but is “obviously in serious trouble and seriously wounded.”
Among the senior officials killed since the war began are Ali Larijani, who served as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, the head of the Iranian Defence Council, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, and the head of the paramilitary Basij forces.
On a potential ceasefire, Trump confirmed that Washington is negotiating with Tehran both directly and indirectly, and said Iran has agreed with most of the 15 points in a US peace proposal. “They gave us most of the points,” he said. Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has publicly denied being involved in negotiations, though Pakistani intermediaries confirmed last week that the 15-point proposal was formally delivered.
As a sign of willingness to negotiate, Iran agreed to allow 20 oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has kept closed since the conflict began. The passage is expected to begin Monday. The strait carries approximately 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas supply, and its closure has sent energy prices sharply higher since late February.
Despite diplomatic signals, the fighting continued overnight into Monday. Targets in Iran came under fresh airstrikes, while Tehran launched retaliatory strikes on Kuwait and Saudi Arabia after Iranian electrical facilities were hit, cutting power to parts of Tehran, its surrounding region, and neighbouring Alborz province. Iran’s government has not released an updated overall casualty toll in recent days, but the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported at least 3,461 people killed as of March 28, including 1,551 civilians and at least 236 children. On the Israeli side, authorities confirmed 19 civilian deaths since the war began.
Iran experts have challenged Trump’s characterisation of regime change. Analysts note that while many top clerical and military leaders have been killed, the Islamic Republic previously decentralised power specifically to survive high-profile assassinations, and the regime appears to remain under the effective control of the IRGC.
Trump is also facing mounting domestic pressure, with approval ratings falling, stock markets declining, and economic anxiety rising among voters already strained by the cost of living. The USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship carrying around 3,500 Marines and sailors, arrived in the Middle East on Friday, and the Pentagon is reportedly preparing contingency plans for potential ground operations near the Strait of Hormuz, though Trump has not approved any deployment.
