🔻Marco Rubio, U.S. secretary of state, says that what is meant by the discussion of “regime change” in Iran does not necessarily mean the complete overthrow of the government; rather, the regime’s nature and behavior must change.

In an interview with Fox News, he said: “We might not see a regime change, in the sense of a complete overthrow; but the nature of the regime itself has to change.”

Mr. Rubio added: “The nature of the Iranian regime has always been outward-looking and expansionist. They don’t just want to rule over Iran; they want to dominate the region. This situation must change, and the only way to change it is to impose costs that they can no longer afford to pay.”

The U.S. secretary of state said that there is an operational difference between “regime change” and “changing the regime itself,” because, as he put it, a change in the government’s behavior—unlike a specific agreement—does not have a clear end point.

He added: “A nuclear deal can be signed and its implementation verified, but forcing a government to abandon its regional strategy is a continuing process, and therefore the pressure will not have a specific natural endpoint.” 📷Reuters