While President Donald Trump geared up for his address on Iran at the United Nations Tuesday, his National Security Adviser John Bolton headed to Fox News to preview the talk. In Bolton’s telling, Trump would cover “the continuing threat of Iran, not just on the nuclear side, but in aggressive, militaristic behavior in the region that puts us at risk” of great power conflict in the Middle East.
“We want massive changes in behavior by the regime in Iran,” Bolton said. “And if they don’t undertake that, they will face more consequences, because we will find more sanctions to impose and other ways to put maximum pressure on them.”
Bolton was not the only Trump team member to discuss Iran in the run-up to Trump’s speech—Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, and even the president’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, all weighed in. Collectively, they paint a muddled picture of the administration’s policy toward Tehran—a picture the president’s Tuesday morning speech did not meaningfully clarify—leaving recklessly unsettled the question of whether U.S.-orchestrated regime change is on the Trump agenda, writes Bonnie Kristian in her latest piece at Reason.
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