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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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While some Republicans cheer on President Donald Trump on Iran, several traditionally hawkish figures have spoken out against his plans.
Trump has invoked numerous reasons for the decision to strike Iran and kill its leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, without first seeking approval from Congress or securing the backing of key allies, from Iran’s nuclear program to its ballistic missile capabilities. But he has also indicated that he is seeking regime change, telling the Iran people in a video message to “take over your government.”
But what he has yet to make clear is how long the war could last, how it ends and what comes next. While some lawmakers have shut down the prospect of sending U.S. troops to Iran, Trump has not ruled it out.
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On Saturday, he said he was unwilling to make a deal to end the war with Iran at this stage, saying previously that he would accept nothing less than "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.” But Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday that Tehran did not ask for a ceasefire or negations and that it will continue fighting for “as long as it takes.”
"It's not a war of survival. We are, you know, stable and strong enough," Aragchi said. "We don't see any reason why we should talk with Americans, because we were talking with them when they decided to attack us, and that was for the second time."
With the war sending shockwaves through the economy and no credible endgame in sight, some foreign policy hawks have expressed skepticism about Trump’s tactics.
Difficult to Achieve Regime Change
Among the most outspoken in recent days has been John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser who has been pushing for regime change in Tehran for decades.
Bolton has warned in recent days that "inadequate preparation" will mean the U.S. is unable to achieve regime change in Iran.
He told Newsweek’s Carlo Versano on an episode of The 1600 podcast last week that Trump erred by launching the war without preparing the public, without building congressional support and without coordinating with allies.
He also said he isn’t sure the president understands what regime change requires.
"He has this idea of what he calls the Venezuela model," Bolton said. "But Venezuela isn't Iran. And by the way, Venezuela isn't Venezuela either—he has not accomplished regime change there.”
In Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez took the place of her ally, President Nicolás Maduro. who was captured by the U.S. in a nighttime military operation in January, and has offered to collaborate with the Trump administration.
And although the initial U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran took out the country's supreme leader and dozens of top commanders and officials, the regime quickly regrouped and elected Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late supreme leader, as his successor. In his first public message, he resolved to keep fighting and avenge his father's killing.
And while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed on Friday morning that Iran's leaders were "cowering" underground, several senior officials, including Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian, appeared in public and walked the streets of Tehran during the annual Quds Day rally that day, sending the message that the regime appears intact and unlikely to collapse anytime soon.
Meanwhile, other hawks have warned of the difficulty of achieving regime change with airstrikes alone.
Condoleezza Rice, who served as national security adviser and then secretary of state under President George W. Bush, said on the GoodFellows podcast recently that she sees the objective of the war to “render Iran a non-factor militarily in the region.” But she added that there is confusion about the Trump administration’s aims because “it’s very hard to change a regime from the air.”
She referred to Trump’s speech about “giving the Iranian people an opportunity to reclaim their future,” adding that “one has to be a little careful and not talk too much about trying to determine the future of Iran if you’re going to keep your objectives relatively limited.”
On the same podcast, H.R. McMaster, who also served as national security adviser during Trump’s first term, also warned of the difficulties of achieving regime change with only an air campaign.
U.S. military leaders should remember “how unsuccessful we’ve been in the past in eliminating missile and drone threats exclusively from the air,” he said.
"This is the big problem that we’re facing now. And of course, we’ve learned this many times. I mean, the Allies learned in World War II with the V1 and V2 threat, which it tried to neutralize from the air. We learned it again in the Gulf War ‘91 with the Scud missile threat toward Israel and had to employ special operations forces, special forces to roam the desert, to identify them on the ground." He said it would be "a tough mission."
'Best Money Ever Spent'
Still, other Republican hawks want Trump to fully embrace regime change in Iran and escalate.
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a longtime proponent of war with Iran, has praised Trump's decision to hit targets on Iran’s Kharg Island, a strategic hub for the country’s oil exports.
Graham said it was "highly effective" and "will help shorten the war" in a post on social media. He also justified the steep cost of the war, estimated to be as much as $1 billion a day, calling it the “best money ever spent.”
“What's it worth to America to take down a religious Nazi regime who's trying to build a nuclear weapon to deliver to America? That's a really good investment,” he said on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures. “When this regime goes down, we’re going to have a new Middle East. We’re going to make a ton of money.”
Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who has described himself as a "non-interventionist hawk," has also vocally supported the war, saying in a recent interview with CBN News that Trump's strategy is making the U.S. "safer."
But he said he does not envision a scenario in which Trump deploys U.S. soldiers on the ground in Iran for "any extended period of time."
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