• White House keeps ‘all options on table’
• Shah’s exiled son urges US intervention

MUNICH: President Donald Trump openly floated the possibility of regime change in Iran, declaring that a change of government would be the “best thing that could happen” as he deployed a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East to ratchet up military pressure on Tehran.

Speaking to US troop at a base in North Carolina on Friday, Trump declined to say who he wanted to see take power in Iran, but insisted that “there are people”.

“For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking,” Trump said.

While Trump has long voiced scepticism about sending ground troops into Iran, telling reporters last year that “the last thing you want to do is ground forces”, the heavy concentration of US firepower arrayed in the Middle East suggests options for strikes primarily by air and naval forces. However, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly suggested that the president is considering a wide range of strategies.

“President Trump has all options on the table with regard to Iran,” Kelly said. “He listens to a variety of perspectives on any given issue, but makes the final decision based on what is best for our country and national security.”

Pahlavi asks US to intervene

The movement of the carrier group comes a day before Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, called on Trump to intervene directly to assist the Iranian people. Speaking on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, Pahlavi said it was “time to end the Islamic republic”.

“To President Trump... The Iranian people heard you say help is on the way, and they have faith in you. Help them,” Pahlavi told reporters. “It is time to end the Islamic republic. This is the demand echoing from the bloodshed of my compatriots who are not asking us to fix the regime but to help them bury it.”

Outside the venue, approximately 200,000 supporters thronged the streets near the gathering of world leaders, waving the green, white and red flags of the pre-1979 monarchy.

The crowd chanted “Javid shah” — long live the shah — and called for increased pressure against the government following the deadly repression of nationwide protests.

Pahlavi has urged Iranians to continue demonstrations, asking them to chant slogans from rooftops at 8pm on Saturday and Sunday to coincide with protests in Germany and elsewhere. Though Trump initially said the US was “locked and loaded” to help demonstrators when the crackdown began, his recent threats have focused on Tehran’s nuclear programme. US forces struck that programme last July during Israel’s unprecedented 12-day war with Iran.

Pahlavi, 65, who has lived in the US since the 1979 Islamic Revolution ousted the monarchy, has faced criticism for never distancing himself from his father’s autocratic rule.

The Iranian opposition remains divided, and Pahlavi’s highly publicised visit to Israel in 2023 fractured attempts to unify opposition camps.

Diplomatic channels remain tentatively open. Representatives of Iran and the US, who have had no formal diplomatic relations since shortly after 1979, held talks on the nuclear programme last week in Oman.

According to Axios, the two sides are scheduled to hold another round of negotiations in Geneva on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2026