While maximum pressure of American sanctions against Iran have been effective, the United States is not looking for regime change in the Islamic republic, emphasized John Bolton, U.S. President Donald Trump’s national security advisor.
“Just to be clear, regime change in Iran is not American policy,” he said on Wednesday. “But what we want is massive change in the regime’s behavior.”
Without elaborating, Bolton added that “we are going to do other things to put pressure on Iran as well, beyond economic sanctions.”
He also said that the Europeans face a choice between doing business with Iran or the United States.
“We expect that Europeans will see, as businesses all over Europe are seeing, that the choice between doing business with Iran or doing business with the United States is very clear to them,” he said.
Bolton’s statements come as Iran threatened on Wednesday that it would retaliate if attacked by America or Israel.
“The price of a war with Iran is very high for America,” preached senior Iranian cleric Ahmad Khatami, associated with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to worshippers during prayers in Tehran for the Eid al-Fitr holiday. “They know if they harm this country and this state in the slightest way the United States and its main ally in the region, the Zionist regime [Israel], would be targeted.”
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday “they would continue increasing Iran’s defensive capabilities” and not cave in to U.S. calls to stop its ballistic missile initiative, according to Reuters.
Bolton said the president “has made it very clear … he wants maximum pressure on Iran—maximum pressure—and that is what is going on.”
