U.S. President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Saturday said that U.S. sanctions on Iran are leading to economic pain that could prompt a "successful revolution," diverging from recent administration comments suggesting that regime change in Tehran was not a U.S. objective.
"I don't know when we're going to overthrow them," said Giuliani, who spoke in his own capacity, though he is a Trump ally, at an Iran Uprising Summit. The Summit was held by the Organization of Iranian-American Communities, which opposes the current Iranian government.
"It could be in a few days, months, a couple of years. But it's going to happen," Giuliani told a crowd at a hotel in New York City's Times Square.
Giuliani's comments broke from the Trump administration's policy of not seeking a change of government, even though it is reimposing sanctions that are crippling Iran's economy.
Trump withdrew from a global deal on Iran's nuclear program in May and his administration is snapping back sanctions on the Islamic republic. The next round of sanctions is expected to target Iran's oil exports from Nov. 4.
The Trump administration hopes the sanctions will force Iran not only to curb its nuclear program but also halt its aggression across the Middle East.
Iran says it has been complying with the 2015 nuclear deal, originally reached by Tehran and six world powers, led by the U.S. under the leadership of Trump's predecessor President Barack Obama. A quarterly report by the U.N. atomic watchdog late last month concluded that Iran has adhered to the main restrictions included in the agreement.
Trump's National Security Adviser John Bolton told Reuters in August that "regime change" in Iran is not American policy. He said the administration wants a massive change in the regime's behavior.
Giuliani has suggested before that the reimposition of sanctions was aimed at regime change. At a conference in June where he addressed the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, he said Trump's policy would suffocate Iran's ayatollahs.
The U.S. State Department has said Giuliani does not speak for the administration on Iran.
On Friday, meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a stark warning to Iran, telling CNN that Washington will take direct action against Tehran for any attacks, even those using proxy forces, against U.S. interests.
"We have told the Islamic Republic of Iran that using a proxy force to attack an American interest will not prevent us from responding against the prime actor," Pompeo said. "We will not let Iran get away with using a proxy force to attack an American interest; Iran will be held accountable for those incidents."
Asked if that meant militarily, Pompeo said, "They're going to be held accountable."
Pompeo was referring to early September rocket attacks allegedly carried out by Iran-backed militias that appeared to target U.S. personnel in Iraq, including in an area housing the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. The White House pinned blame on Shiite militia groups, saying in a Sept. 11 statement that "Iran did not act to stop these attacks by its proxies in Iraq, which it has supported with funding, training and weapons."
Pompeo also noted Friday that Iran has been "confronting the world as the world's largest state sponsor of terror for quite some time. They have armed militias, the Lebanese Hezbollah, Makateeb Hezbollah, militias in Iraq; they're arming the Houthis in Yemen, launching missiles in the Gulf States."
He added that if Iran is "responsible for the arming and training of these militias, we're gonna go to the source."
Pompeo is expected to deliver a major speech on Iran at the United Nations next week.
Trump is also scheduled to host a Security Council meeting on non-proliferation. On Friday, he tweeted that the gathering would focus on Iran.
Pompeo also went after his predecessor, former Secretary of State John Kerry, who has met with Iranian officials since leaving office. Kerry's "problem," Pompeo told CNN, is that "he always refused to treat our enemies like enemies."
"No American, and in particular no former secretary of state should be actively speaking to undermine the foreign policy of the United States of America," Pompeo said, alleging that Kerry had told Iranian officials to "just wait out this administration."
In a column appearing in The Washington Post on Friday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani slammed U.S. foreign policy, and he didn't waste the opportunity to take a swipe at Israel as well.
"Current U.S. foreign policy toward Iran is out of step with the realities on the ground – in Iran, in the region and around the world. I would argue that it is not even in line with U.S. national interests. Fed by disinformation and fake analysis from terrorist groups and Israel, the U.S. administration is under the illusion that resorting to sanctions will lead to concessions from Iran," Rouhani wrote.
