After visiting troops at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, President Donald Trump told reporters Friday that a change in power in Iran would be “the best thing that could happen,” framing the comment as part of the broader pressure the Trump administration is considering as it weighs whether to take military action against Tehran. In the exchange, Trump compared his view to the long-running U.S. focus on Iran policy, saying, “For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking.”
Trump’s remarks came as he also confirmed that the U.S. is deploying a second aircraft carrier group to the Middle East, with the USS Gerald R. Ford moving from its position in the Caribbean Sea to join other warships and military assets already in the region. He told reporters, “In case we don’t make a deal, we’ll need it,” and added, “It’ll be leaving very soon,” according to the Associated Press report.
The comments also reflected how Trump’s thinking about concessions to Iran is broader than nuclear limits alone. The Associated Press reported that Trump has suggested in recent weeks that his top priority is for Iran to further scale back its nuclear program, but on Friday he indicated that U.S. expectations could include additional areas. Asked about targeting Tehran’s nuclear program, Trump said, “If we do it, that would be the least of the mission,” describing the nuclear effort as suffering “significant setbacks” in U.S. military strikes last year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who traveled to Washington this week for talks with Trump, has pushed for a potential agreement to include steps aimed at neutralizing Iran’s ballistic missile program and stopping funding for proxy groups including Hamas and Hezbollah. Trump’s Friday statements came against that backdrop, and they followed remarks from Secretary of State Marco Rubio warning that a change in power in Iran would be more complicated than the administration’s effort to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Rubio, during a Senate hearing last month, told lawmakers that any scenario involving Iran would require “a lot of careful thinking,” noting that with Iran “you’re talking about a regime that’s in place for a very long time.” Trump’s comment about possible political change in Iran came only weeks after those warnings, according to the AP report.
The Ford’s deployment is expected to build on an existing U.S. carrier presence in the region. The report said the USS Ford, first reported by The New York Times, would join the USS Abraham Lincoln and its accompanying guided-missile destroyers, which have been in the Middle East for more than two weeks. AP also reported that U.S. forces shot down an Iranian drone that approached the Lincoln on the same day the Trump administration tried to stop a U.S.-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
As the administration weighs its options, the AP report described heightened regional and internal pressure. Gulf Arab nations have warned that any attack could spiral into another regional conflict in a Middle East still dealing with the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, and the report said Iranians are starting 40-day mourning ceremonies for thousands killed in Tehran’s crackdown on nationwide protests last month. The U.S. and Iranian governments also have continued to communicate indirectly, with AP reporting that Iran and the United States held indirect talks in Oman a week earlier, after a round of negotiations did not materialize this week.
The Ford movement also drew questions about how quickly the carrier can rotate from a prior mission and how it fits into U.S. defense priorities. Trump had sent the Ford from the Mediterranean Sea to the Caribbean last October, after which it was used in what the AP described as a strike force connected to the Venezuela operation. In response to questions about the Ford’s movement, U.S. Southern Command said Latin America operations would continue to focus on “counter[ing] illicit activities and malign actors in the Western Hemisphere,” with Col. Emanuel Ortiz saying, “While force posture evolves, our operational capability does not,” and that “forces remain fully ready to project power, defend themselves, and protect U.S. interests in the region.”
The AP report said the Ford strike group will bring more than 5,000 additional troops to the Middle East, but few capabilities or weapons that do not already exist within the Lincoln group. With the Ford currently in the Caribbean, AP reported it would likely be weeks before the carrier is off the coast of Iran. The AP also described how long deployments can affect both crews and ships: the Navy’s top officer, Adm. Daryl Caudle, said last month that extending the Ford longer at sea would be “highly disruptive” and that he is “a big non-fan of extensions,” warning that longer time can disrupt planned lives and complicate maintenance and repairs. Caudle said aircraft carriers typically deploy for six or seven months, and he pointed to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower’s experience with a nine-month Middle East deployment and maintenance delays that left it in the shipyard beyond a scheduled completion date.