Regime change in Iran would be 'best thing': Trump

WASHINGTON, Feb 14: US President Donald Trump said Friday that a change of government in Iran would be the "best thing that could happen," as he sent a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East to ratchet up military pressure on the Islamic republic.

Trump's comments were his most overt call yet for the toppling of Iran's clerical establishment, and came as he pushes on Washington's arch-foe Tehran to make a deal to limit its nuclear program.

At the same time, the exiled son of the Iranian shah toppled in the 1979 Islamic revolution renewed his calls for international intervention following a bloody crackdown on protests by Tehran.

"Seems like that would be the best thing that could happen," Trump told reporters at the Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina when a journalist asked if he wanted "regime change" in Iran.

Trump declined to say who he would want to take over in Iran from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but he added that "there are people."

He has previously backed off full-throated calls for a change of government in Iran, warning that it could cause chaos, although he has made threats towards Khamenei in the past.

Speaking earlier at the White House, Trump said that the USS Gerald R. Ford -- the world's largest warship -- would be "leaving very soon" for the Middle East to up the pressure on Iran.

"In case we don't make a deal, we'll need it," Trump said.

The giant vessel is currently in the Caribbean following the US overthrow of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro. Another carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, is one of 12 US ships already in the Middle East.

When Iran began its crackdown on protests last month -- which rights groups say killed thousands -- Trump initially said that the United States was "locked and loaded" to help demonstrators.    �"AFP