Iran War: Big Questions Over US Objectives Says Cathy Ashton

The US-Israeli war has left at least 1,332 people dead in Iran so far, and dozens of others have been killed elsewhere in the region in retaliatory strikes. The Pentagon said six US troops have been killed, all in the first two days of fighting.  President Donald Trump said the US continues to "totally demolish" Iranian forces, telling NBC he wanted to "clean out" Iran's leadership structure and he had names in mind to take over.  Cathy Ashton - who was the EU's first high representative on foreign affairs from 2009-2014, and a key negotiator of the previous Iran nuclear deal known as the JC-POA Stephen Carroll and Lizzy Burden on Bloomberg radio to discuss the conflict and what might come next.  President Donald Trump said he doesn’t want to negotiate an end to the war with Iran in a post on social media that demanded Tehran capitulate as US and Israeli airstrikes continue.

“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that the US and its allies would select a “GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s).”

The president’s remarks are a signal that the White House may be girding for an extended conflict after US officials had insisted their goal was not regime change. Trump in the early days of the conflict had instead indicated a willingness to still broker a deal. The war has left at least 1,332 people dead in Iran so far, and dozens of others have been killed elsewhere in the region in retaliatory strikes. Six US troops have been killed, all in the first two days of fighting. Iran is poised to elect a successor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed on Feb. 28, the first day of the conflict, and Mojtaba Khamenei, the slain leader’s second-oldest son, is in the running. Trump has said dismissed him as a “lightweight” who wouldn’t change the regime’s policies and insisted on being personally involved in picking the country’s next leader.

In a subsequent interview with CNN, Trump said he “may be” fine with Iran having another religious leader, but that the next person to head the country needed to “treat the United States and Israel well.”

“It’s going to work out like it did with Venezuela,” Trump said.

After the US captured Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro earlier this year, Washington established a relationship with interim President Delcy Rodriguez that has largely kept the government in Caracas intact but seen oil-related concessions, including cutting off shipments to Cuba and rerouting barrels to the US.

Still, Trump’s social media post — and an interview Thursday with NBC News in which he indicated he wanted the Iranian leadership structure removed entirely — suggest he is envisioning a more ambitious overhaul in Tehran.

“We want to go in and clean out everything,” Trump said. “We don’t want someone who would rebuild over a 10-year period.”

Read more: Trump Demands Iran Surrender as War Upends Global Markets

Israel, which has joined the US in the campaign against Iran, said Thursday it was beginning its next phase of the campaign, planning to intensify strikes against the regime’s military capabilities. Iran fired a barrage of missiles and drones targeting a number of Gulf countries overnight.

Iran made a mistake when they attacked other gulf countries, Trump told CNN on Friday. He rated the war as a “12, maybe 15 on the scale of 10” and said the US was doing very well militarily.

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