December 23, 2016
John Bolton, who has been nomimated to be deputy secretary of state in the Trump Administration, has called for regime change in Iran—but not advocated a US invasion to bring it about.
Deputy secretary is the Number Two post in the State Department.
In an interview, he advocated supporting groups that oppose the regime. Bolton has long been an enthusiastic advocate for the Mojahedin-e Khalq and has often spoken to the group. But he didn’t mention it in his interview November 17.
Bolton, who was ambassador to the United Nations in the George W. Bush Administration, called regime change the “only long-term solution” to threats the Islamic Republic poses in the Middle East.
“The ayatollahs are the principal threat to international peace and security in the Middle East,” Bolton told Breitbart News Daily, a radio program run by the hard-right website. “Now, their ouster won’t bring sweetness and light to the region, that’s for sure, but it will eliminate the principal threat.”
Bolton also ripped into the Iran nuclear deal and argued that it only helps leaders in Tehran. He called it “unacceptable” and a “total failure” and said it needs to be rethought, though he did not call for tearing it up.
“I think the people of Iran would long for a new regime,” Bolton continued. “I don’t think the regime is popular, but I think it has the guns. And I think there are ways of supporting the opposition that does not involve the use of American military force, that does involve helping the opposition to get a different kind of government.”
“A new government may not be filled with Jeffersonian Democrats, either,” Bolton acknowledged.
In the past, Bolton has advocated making war on Iran, so his interview last month marked a major shift, putting him more in tune with Trump, who criticized US interventions in the Middle East during the campaign.
In 2013, Bolton told The Jerusalem Post, “Israel should have attacked Iran yesterday. Every day that goes by puts Israel in greater danger, every day Iran makes more progress.”
