US President Donald Trump said regime change is the "best thing that could happen" in Iran, as he confirmed that a second aircraft carrier would soon join a "massive" US armada in the Arabian Sea amid high tensions between the bitter rivals.

"Seems like that would be the best thing that could happen," Trump told reporters on February 13 at a military base in North Carolina when asked whether he sought "regime change" in Tehran.

"For 47 years, they've been talking and talking and talking. In the meantime, we've lost a lot of lives while they talk," he added in his most direct call for the fall of Iran's hard-line clerical regime.

Trump did not say who he would like to see take over should the government fall, only that "there are people."

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Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last shah of Iran, is one of many figures vying for prominence among the fractured Iranian opposition in exile.

Iran's theocratic regime has been in power since 1979, when the Islamic Revolution saw clerics loyal to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khamenei overthrow the US-backed shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The two countries have not had diplomatic relations since 1980.

Washington and Tehran have been involved in indirect talks over Iran's nuclear program. Western countries suspect Iran is attempting to develop a nuclear weapon, while Tehran insists its program is strictly for civilian purposes.

Trump has also threatened a new military strike against the Iranian government if it executes any of the protesters arrested during recent mass anti-government demonstrations.

'Difficult' Nuclear Negotiations

Trump told US troops at the base that Tehran has been "difficult" in nuclear talks and suggested more pressure on the Iranians was needed.

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"They've been difficult to make a deal," he said. "Sometimes you have to have fear. That's the only thing that really will get the situation taken care of."

Trump also hailed the 12-day war in June, when Israel and the United States launched a bombing campaign targeting Iran's nuclear and military sites.

The latest comments come amid one of Washington's largest-ever military buildups in the Persian Gulf region.

Experts say the deployment is aimed at giving Trump military options if he chooses to act on his threats to attack Iran for failing to make a nuclear deal and violently cracking down on protesters.

Iranian security forces killed thousands of demonstrators in January, after protests erupted in late December 2025 over the sharp collapse of the Iranian currency.