US President Donald Trump has hinted at a regime change in Iran after American jets dropped bunker-busting bombs on Tehran’s key nuclear sites over the weekend.
Trump’s position is in stark contrast to the statements by Vice President JD Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who claimed the US did not intend to overthrow Iran's government.
“It’s not politically correct to use the term, ‘Regime Change,” but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to make Iran great again, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!” Trump wrote on his social media platform, using all-caps in part of his post and drawing a parallel to his MAGA movement.
Trump promised on the campaign trail not to drag the US into foreign wars. His U-turn on the issue has upset the isolationist camp within the Republican Party that wants to keep the US military out of any war waged on behalf of another country in a faraway land.
In the past, the US has carried out regime changes in many countries that mostly produced unintended consequences like political instability, ethnic violence and sectarian strife.
Here’s a brief list of US-backed regime changes since World War II that led to long-term civil war or strengthened groups that were adversarial to US interests.
Iran – 1953
With the support of the UK, the US played a major role in overthrowing the democratically elected government of then-prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953.
The US installed a pro-Western monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, primarily to protect Western oil interests and counter Soviet influence in Iran.
The CIA-orchestrated coup involved bribery, propaganda, and mob violence.
Even though the US managed to replace Mossadegh with the Shah, the coup fuelled long-term resentment towards the US among Iranians.
The Shah ruled Iran with an iron fist until 1979, when a revolution led by a religious leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, toppled the monarchy and established a firmly anti-US government.
The 1953 coup is widely cited as a catalyst for anti-American sentiments in the Middle East.
Guatemala – 1954
In 1954, the US orchestrated the removal of democratically elected president Jacobo Arbenz, who was perceived as a communist threat due to his land reforms threatening US business interests.
The CIA used psychological warfare, propaganda, and a small mercenary force led by military officer Carlos Castillo Armas to overthrow the government of President Arbenz.
Even though the coup was successful at the time and Armas took power with US backing, the covert intervention triggered over three decades of civil war (1960–1996), resulting in an estimated 200,000 deaths and widespread human rights abuses.
Instead of bringing the country into the US sphere of influence, the political instability strengthened leftist groups and fanned anti-American sentiments in Latin America.
Cuba – 1961
The US attempted to replace Fidel Castro’s communist government in 1961 with a pro-US regime, orchestrating an “invasion” by CIA-trained Cuban exiles.
The so-called invasion failed within days as Cuban forces decisively defeated the exiles. The success emboldened Castro, who consolidated power and strengthened ties with the Soviet Union.
The failed coup led to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when the world came closest to a full-scale nuclear war in the Cold War era.
South Vietnam – 1963
The US planned and executed in 1963 the removal of President Ngo Dinh Diem, whose policies were allegedly undermining Washington’s efforts to counter communism in the country.
The CIA helped South Vietnamese generals overthrow the president while US ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr provided funding.
Even though the generals overthrew and assassinated their president, the coup created a political vacuum, weakening South Vietnam’s government while strengthening the Viet Cong insurgency.
The instability paved the way for the escalation in US military involvement, which resulted in over 58,000 US deaths along with millions of Vietnamese casualties.
Like the coups in Iran and Guatemala, the US-backed regime change destabilised South Vietnam and undermined long-term US interests in the region.
Iraq – 1963
The US actively supported the Baath Party’s coup in 1963 against then-prime minister Abd al-Karim Qasim, who was pro-communist and resisted joining the US-aligned United Arab Republic.
The US played an “integral role” in the 1963 coup, which was referred to as “one of the most elaborate CIA operations in the history of the Middle East”.
Qasim was killed, and the Baath Party took power briefly. But the second Baathist rule under Saddam Hussein (1979–2003) turned Iraq into a US adversary and led to wars, repression, and regional instability.
Afghanistan – 1979-89
The US armed Afghan mujahideen in the 1980s to overthrow the Soviet-installed communist government and counter the Kremlin’s influence during the Cold War.
The CIA covertly funnelled billions of dollars in aid, weapons, and training, which resulted in the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989.
However, US involvement led to civil war (1989-96) in Afghanistan, helping the Taliban gain power. Meanwhile, Al Qaeda gained a foothold in the region, leading to the US invasion in 2001 and the subsequent breakdown of civil order for the next two decades.
Iraq – 2003
The US invaded Iraq in 2003 to overthrow Saddam Hussein’s regime, citing its weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). The US set out to replace the Saddam regime with a so-called pro-Western democracy.
Even though Washington managed to topple the regime in no time, it did not find any WMDs. The invasion created an insurgency as sectarian violence gripped the nation and armed groups mounted attacks against US troops.
Meanwhile, terror groups like Daesh established their presence in lawless parts of the country, destabilising the entire region.
Over 4,400 US troops and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians died, with Iraq remaining unstable for years on end.
