The lingering question of ‘regime change’published at 19:30 GMT
19:30 GMT
Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House
The White House briefing earlier today left us with very few answers on the negotiations, or – vitally – who exactly they are taking place with.
Trump has now repeatedly claimed that the US is communicating with the “right people” in the Iranian government, after previous tiers of the country’s leadership were killed in waves of US and Israeli strikes.
It is unclear, however, whether those “right people” include the country’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamanei, or top figures who remain at the IRGC.
The US president, for his part, this week insisted that the fact that senior figures in Iran are talking at all already represents “regime change”.
“This is a change in the regime,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “Because the leaders are all very different than the ones that we started off with.”
Early on in the conflict, Trump also said that he believes the US should have a role in choosing Iran’s leadership.
Earlier, I asked Karoline Leavitt whether Trump still believes that it an objective of the operation.
“I think the president obviously believes that the United States want to have someone in leadership in the Iranian regime that will be much more favourable to work with the United States, that will no longer chant ‘death to America’,” she responded.
“These would be good, common sense things for the United States and our allies.”