Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Iran goals don’t include war or regime change: US officials

Top United States officials have been giving interviews and press briefings from Washington, where they are stressing that the US does not want to get into a protracted war with Tehran or topple Iran's government.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News: “We are not declaring war on Iran. We’re not looking for war in Iran, but if they attack us, then I think we have capabilities they haven’t even seen yet.”

He added: “I don’t like the regime, but we’re not into the regime change business here. We’re into the safety and security the United States business.”

Later, Rubio told CBS’s Face the Nation: “There are no planned military operations right now against Iran – unless they mess around.”

Earlier Sunday, Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. would pursue diplomacy.

“We do not want to protract this or build this out any more than it’s already been built out,” he added.

And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stressed in a Sunday morning briefing that the meeting was not “open-ended.”

› Subscribe

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

More Articles