Karoline Leavitt Defends Donald Trump’s Iran ‘Regime Change’ Claims — Netizens Say 'These People Need a Dictionary’

While the world is witnessing a conflict between the U.S. and Iran, the White House is facing its own set of challenges with interviews and press conferences. At such a time, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has left people baffled with her answer after she was asked a question about the Iran war.

Instead of giving a clear answer, Leavitt showed her confidence in President Donald Trump and his claim that the conflict has already caused a “regime change” in Iran. She, however, suggested that the basic facts remain unclear. Her response made people wonder who is really in charge in Iran and whether any real agreement has been made.

Following the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran, Trump has made bold claims about the war with the Middle Eastern country. During an interview at his Oval Office, the president said the country’s leadership is now “completely different” and that a deal could happen soon.

“This war has been won. The only one that likes to keep it going is the fake news. We killed all their leadership,” Trump told CBS News’ Ed O’Keefe. He added, “And then they met to choose new leaders and we killed all of them. And now we have a new group, and we can easily do that, but let’s see how they turn out.”

Trump asserted the war had already been won and blamed the media for keeping the story alive with fake news. Further, speaking from the Oval Office on Tuesday, March 24, Trump claimed that U.S. forces had taken out Iran’s top leaders multiple times, and that each new group was also quickly replaced.

“It’s — we have, really, regime change,” the president said. “You know, this is a change in the regime, because the leaders are all very different from the ones that we started off with that created all those problems. So this was, I think we can say, Jason, this is regime change, right?” the president stated.

However, Iran has denied reports about talks or deals happening. Meanwhile, Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who took over after his father Ali Khamenei was killed early in the war, has not been seen in public. Reports suggest that he may have been injured. But the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is still in control, and the country continues to operate as usual.

Following these reports, as Leavitt was asked about her opinion on the Iran war and Trump's comments about “regime change,” she drew attention. The press secretary brushed past the contradictions, and even shamed the reporter for questioning Trump’s remarks.

“Trump yesterday said that he had achieved regime change in Iran because the regime has changed in terms of —” the reporter said before being interrupted by Leavitt. “I mean, has it not?” she said.

Leavitt went on to claim that Iran’s entire leadership had been killed and that no one had clearly seen or heard from the new leader. “Their entire leadership has been killed, and no one has really seen or legitimately heard from this new alleged leader,” she added.

Her response, however, did not sit well with netizens, who took to Threads to share their opinions on the same. While pointing out that a “regime” means a full system of government, not just one leader, some users criticized the administration for confusion and lack of clarity.

“These people need a dictionary. Regime is not one person. It's a system of government. That has not changed,” one user wrote. Another added, “I think when your goal is regime change it’s not usually ‘change for the worse! Mission accomplished!’ but what do I know?”