Trump says Iran's "new regime" is more moderate, but experts state that the Iranian regime has not changed and is actually more hardline.

ME News update: On April 4 (UTC+8), U.S. President Trump said this week that Iran’s new leadership is “more moderate” and “more rational.” Trump and the Pentagon have repeatedly claimed that a regime change has taken place. But most political scientists and analysts believe that so-called regime change should refer to an external power changing a country’s system of governance, rather than simply replacing the leadership of that system. Instead, the war has strengthened the power of Iran’s hardline military faction and intensified anti-U.S. sentiment. Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said: “This regime is even more hawkish and less inclined to compromise, and frankly, its ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are more direct. We saw Iran’s top leader at the time being ‘decapitated’ and removed, but that didn’t translate into a shift in power or a major change in its stance toward the United States.” (Source: PANews)