In an interview with FRANCE 24, former US national security adviser John Bolton said US President Donald Trump “could be ready to stop the war at almost any moment”. Bolton also said he remains mystified by Trump’s reversal on regime change in Iran and warned that the Iranian opposition is not receiving enough support.
Bolton, who served as Trump’s national security adviser from 2018 to 2019, said he long advocated for regime change in Iran – only to be overruled.
“He was against it,” Bolton said of Trump, noting that other advisers raised fears over the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on the Gulf states. What prompted the US president’s change of heart this time around remains “a mystery”, according to Bolton.
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On what is now needed to ensure regime change in Iran, Bolton said the Iranian opposition requires “resources”, “communications” and possibly “weapons” – support that, based on public information, does not appear to be forthcoming.
Putin’s Iran gambit, a ‘hopeless endeavour’
Bolton also reacted sceptically to Vladimir Putin’s offer last week to mediate between Washington and Tehran – a move he described as “a hopeless endeavour” that the Russian president likely knew would go nowhere.
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Putin’s real goal, Bolton argued, was to appear useful to Trump on Iran in order to cash in that goodwill later over Ukraine.
More broadly, Bolton expressed hope that the US will prevail in Iran, but noted that this would require from the US president “patience and persistence, which are not two of Trump’s strengths”.