If you’re like everyone else watching the major cable networks since Saturday, you’ve probably had your fill of the phrases “regime change” and “forever wars,” especially when used in close proximity to each other.
CNN was playing to type when one of its apparatchiks asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio about how American “regime change” led to those pesky forever wars — which led to an illuminating exchange regarding how Iran could be (emphasis on the possible) different than our experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Rubio was leaving a briefing on Capitol Hill on Monday when Manu Raju of the Wolf Blitzer Network asked him about how “regime change has not gone well for the United States.”
“The what now?” Rubio responded.
“Regime change has not gone well for the United States for many, many decades,” Raju responded, before asking: “How do you assure the American public that things will not get worse for the next regime that comes in and replaces the Ayatollah?”
Rubio answered that he “would love to see this regime be replaced,” as would the administration.
After an interruption by Raju, he noted that Trump “would love for the people of Iran to use this as an opportunity to rise up and remove these leaders.”
“They’ve been wanting to remove them from a long time. We’ve seen successive waves of protests and we’ve seen them slaughter people,” Rubio continued.
However, he added that “the objective of this mission is to make sure they don’t have these weapons that can threaten us and our allies in the region.”
“That’s why we’re doing what we’re doing now. And while we would love to see a new regime, the bottom line is no matter who governs that country a year from now, they’re not going to have these ballistic missiles, and they’re not going to have these drones to threaten us,” he added, saying this would worsen if Iran ever got a nuke.
“We were not going to let them hide behind that. And that’s why this was such a critical mission to undertake now while they were at their weakest point and not a year from now, where they could inflict even more damage and perhaps already be behind that point of immunity.”
CNN’s Manu Raju: “Regime change has not gone well for the United States.
Secretary of State Rubio: “The what now?”
Raju: “Regime change has not gone well for the United States for many, many decades. How do you assure the American public that things will not get worse for the… pic.twitter.com/7TVxZXbsTF
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 2, 2026
It’s not just what Rubio is saying that’s news here, but what Raju decided to report from this encounter:
On how he can assure the public that the next leader won’t be worse for US, Rubio says: “We would love to have a new regime,” Rubio says, calling on people of Iran to “rise up.”
Warner, leaving briefing, said he’s heard “five different rationales” for war
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 3, 2026
Obviously, it’s clear that President Donald Trump and his administration would love to have a new regime in Iran, especially one selected by protesters rising up and throwing off the yoke of their Islamic theocrat leaders.
However, the critical objective is this: Make sure Iran can’t do this again.
Iran has proved itself thoroughly incontinent with the ballistic missiles it has, striking or attempting to strike as far west as Cyprus and as far east as Oman.
Meanwhile, they’re thoroughly unwilling to give up their conventional weapons, and they also wanted to continue enriching uranium and funding their terror proxies.
So yes, regime change forever wars are bad. That’s not what Donald Trump has gotten involved in, at least so far. In Iran, like Venezuela, it’d be nice if toppling the ayatollah led to what the administration has taken to calling (not inaccurately, mind you) “regime adjustment.”
However, what’s important, as Rubio noted, is making sure these bloodthirsty goons keep their hands to themselves. If the brave people of Iran take their destiny into their own hands, all the better.
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