US President Donald Trump was actively pursuing nuclear diplomacy with Iran even as military plans for an attack were being finalised, according to a new book that offers a detailed account of how negotiations collapsed and strikes followed.“Regime Change,” by New York Times journalists Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman, portrays a president who refused to give up on a deal until the very end.But as talks stalled, Trump became convinced Iran was weak. He told advisers he had “a good feeling” about military action and, the authors write, wanted to “wipe out the regime and figure out the details later.”
Netanyahu pushed Trump hard
The book reveals Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu aggressively lobbied Trump to act, arguing Iran had never been more vulnerable. He presented a four-stage plan: decapitate Iran’s leadership, destroy its military, topple the regime and install a new government.Netanyahu showed Trump a video of how a post-revolution Iran could look and suggested exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi as a possible leader. Trump liked what he saw but had doubts about the later stages, reportedly concluding that regime change would be “their problem.” The book does not clarify who “they” refers to.
Top US officials dismissed Netanyahu’s plan
Trump’s national security team was not convinced. CIA Director John Ratcliffe reportedly called Netanyahu’s vision “farcical.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio was even blunter, cutting in during a meeting: “In other words, it’s bull****.”Rubio argued against making regime change the goal. If the objective was to destroy Iran’s missile program, he said, “that’s a goal we can achieve.”
The final Situation Room meeting
One of the book’s most dramatic scenes takes place in the final Situation Room meeting before the strikes. Ratcliffe briefed Trump on intelligence that Iran’s senior leadership was expected to gather at Khamenei’s compound. If regime change meant killing Khamenei, Ratcliffe reportedly told the president, “we can probably do that.”Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine warned that a prolonged conflict could deplete US weapons stockpiles, strain missile defenses already stretched by Ukraine and Israel, and put American forces at risk.Vice President JD Vance, the administration’s most vocal opponent of military action, repeated his objections but said he would back Trump if he decided to proceed. Sources familiar with Vance’s concerns told the authors he warned the war could fracture Trump’s political coalition and alienate voters who had supported him on a promise of no new wars.
Diplomacy continued almost until the attack
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner kept negotiating with Iranian officials in Oman and Switzerland right up to the final days. One proposal offered Iran free nuclear fuel for its civilian program for life, a test to see if Tehran’s enrichment push was about energy or weapons.Witkoff and Kushner concluded Iran was stalling, hoping to outlast Trump’s presidency. That convinced the president diplomacy had run its course and led to Trump giving the final order.After listening to his advisers, Trump made up his mind. “I think we need to do it,” he said.He gave the final order the next afternoon while traveling to Texas.Seventeen days into the war, the authors found Trump in the Oval Office with printouts of maple trees spread across his desk instead of military maps. “I’m ordering trees for the White House,” he told them. “I know how to buy good trees. Maples.”
