Name: U.S. military pressure on Iran – is regime change the real objective? | To the Point
Uploaded: 2026-02-19T17:15:42.000Z
Duration: 26 min 8 s
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The fight over Iran's nuclear program is entering a new and dangerous phase.

Negotiators are still talking, but on the ground, the confrontation is escalating on both sides.

There's saber rattling between the United States and Iran.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard is flexing its muscles in the Strait of Hormuz, calling it just a naval exercise.

Meanwhile, a US Aircraft carrier is already in the region and a second one has now been deployed to the Middle eas.

Inside Iran, the regime is fueling anti American rhetoric.

And when Iranians protest, the authorities crack down brutally.

As we saw again in early January, Iranian exile communities around the world are rallying against the regime's violence.

And in the US the President is openly calling for political change in Tehran.

All this while both sides say they still want to negotiate a nuclear deal.

And to the point we ask US Military pressure on Iran is a regime change the real goal.

Hans Jakob Schindler is a terrorism expert and director of the Counter Extremism Project.

Daniel Gerlach is an author, commentator and leading expert in the Middle east and the wider Muslim world.

He's also the editor in chief of Zenith magazine.

And Mehtab Ghalizadeh is an Iranian journalist specializing in macroeconomics, political economy and women's rights.

To all of you, welcome and thank you for being with us today.

The world saw those massive protests in Iran and the brutal repression that followed.

It seems like political turmoil is not in the international headlines at the moment anymore.

Honestly, you know, 40,000 people were killed in Iran.

And each family, directly or indirectly, are sorrow, are mourning.

And as someone who experiences at least four major protests in Iran, I know after a huge crackdown, the society goes in deep disappointment and fall down.

But in this time, one thing was very different, is very different citizens.

They hope by a strike by the United States or military strike, because during the years people find that they have no guns, no weapons, no oil, and

they cannot stay in front of the government with their hand.

So they find that they need a broad help, a military, maybe it should be led to goes the Islamic Republic down.

And so this time it was a bit difference between other protests.

However, the regime seems to think, Daniel, that the correct strategy is to completely crack down on these protests.

And I think also for the regime, it's become more and more clear that there is no way back.

What happened last January was a magnitude of bloodshed that, that no one can, can ignore.

And you see, even though at the moment there's no protest going on these days, mark not only the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, but

in particular in the shia tradition, the 40 days after the death of the demise of a person, then you commemorate that person again.

And the regime was extremely nervous that these days would spark again protests.

So you heard implicit statements from, let's say, government officials or officials in general, who even admitted that during the crackdowns of the protests, people had been killed with gunshots in their heads.

For example, the director of one of the largest cemeteries in Tehran, who is, after all, an official, he admitted that.

So, of course, you have the regime narrative that this was all incited by terrorists and by foreign agents.

The usual stories that we hear now, we hear forced confessions.

We have the revolutionary court system in place that wants to demonstrate to its own followers that they have the situation under control.

But you can see that the regime and regime officials are extremely nervous when it comes to the social situation.

I think it's also understandable that at the moment, nobody dares to go out on the streets at night.

And we've seen it in the last couple of years, that every time there is a new protest wave, it has a bigger impact and there's more and more people and the crackdown is more violent.

And then the end, you can ask, like, how long is the regime willing to apply that strategy?

There is one significant factor that we also have to mention in this particular context, Hans, and

that is the President of the United States who has openly expressed a desire of a regime change in Iran.

Do you think that these warships are setting the conditions for a possible strike by the US against Iran?

Well, I mean, the warship sets the conditions for a military pressure on the regime to compromise.

So what is here discussed is that there are two different agreements that are supposed to be reached.

The Iranian side wants to reach an agreement on the nuclear toast.

And the US side so far says it has to be the nuclear issue, it has to be the ballistic missiles, and

has to be the relationship with your proxies.

Now, the problem I see is that the tactic of the Iranian side is simply to string out these negotiations as long as possible.

They've now had negotiations about the principles of the negotiations, although it's the same set of individuals that met last time for five times in summer 2025.

So what principles are we actually talking about if that hadn't been agreed in five meetings in 2025?

I don't know what principles supposed to be agreed.

The real risk here from Iranian domestic perspective is that the difference between women, Life, Freedom in 2022 and this time was that a.

It is not about social or political issues.

Loss of control over inflation and your currency.

That is something the regime cannot solve on its own unless it gets a cash infusion from the outside.

Which means the usual tactic is you repress the with violence, increasing violence every time, but

For example, in 2022, you increase the punishment for violations of the hijab law, but

you cease controlling of the hijab law in all of the major cities is not working now because there's simply no cash left unless they get cash from the outside.

Further, that they actually also may need that compromise and may need a nuclear deal.

But for Donald Trump, past nuclear talks with Iran went nowhere.

And he's ready to ramp up pressure on Iran's clerical regime to the maximum, even hinting he'd be willing to use military force if necessary.

The US Is determined its president, Donald Trump, wants regime change in Iran, and

the use of military force is not off the table.

Well, it seems like that would be the best thing that could happen.

For 47 years, they've been talking and talking and talking.

In the meantime, we've lost a lot of lives while they talk.

But the regime in Tehran is also flexing its muscles, staging a naval maneuver in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important oil trade routes, and

And it appears Tehran is rebuilding missile positions targeted by last summer's US Military strikes targeting Iran's military and nuclear program.

The words used by the country's leader are defiant.

Americans should know that if they start a war this time, it will be a regional war.

This open threat is also directed at Israel, Iran's other arch enemy.

Prime Minister Netanyahu insists that Iran must not be allowed to possess enriched uranium.

Just how likely is an open confrontation with Iran?

So we just heard from Hans what the US Is actually pursuing in these Negotiations with Iran.

Regime change is not officially part of those intentions.

Do you think that the actions we're seeing by the US Right now go in that direction, or that it's really just about the nuclear deal, the military power and ballistic missiles and the proxy wars?

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U.S. military pressure on Iran – is regime change the real objective? | To the Point

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