Trump claims regime change in Iran but ideology unchanged, former US diplomat says

President Donald Trump has said that the US has achieved regime change in Iran, claiming that the country is now run by "totally different group of people" who are "much more reasonable" and "smarter." "One regime is gone, another regime is gone, we're dealing with the third," Trump said. "Pieces of it, because some of them are gone too." In an interview on Al Jazeera, former senior US diplomat Ambassador Joey Hood, who served as ambassador to Tunisia and acting director of Iranian affairs at the State Department, said that while the members of the regime have changed following the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior officials, "what has not apparently changed is the ideology of the regime and its approach to the rest of the world." He argued that Iran has become "less flexible" because new leaders "have to look over their shoulders at the other guy." Hood pointed to former Iranian presidents Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mohammad Khatami, and former prime minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi, all of whom are under house arrest, as examples of what happens to politicians who appear weak. On Iran's nuclear program, Hood said Iran has not developed a nuclear weapon but has given "every indication that they were trying to get to the point where they were just on the threshold of being able to develop one." He pointed to secret military nuclear sites discovered at Natanz and Fordow as evidence, despite the supreme leader's fatwa against nuclear weapons. Hood also noted that Iran killed "tens of thousands" of its own people during protests in December and January, arguing: "If they're willing to do that to their own people, imagine what they're willing to do to others." Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on X: https://X.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/ Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/ Download AJE Mobile App: https://aje.news/AJEMobile #Trump #Iran #UnitedStates #IranWar #USIsraelWarOnIran #HormuzCrisis #IranNuclearProgram #TrumpCabinetMeeting #IranLeadership #RegimeChange #USIranCeasefire #USIranTalks #AlJazeeraEnglish