Trump Claims Iran Regime Change Achieved as Conflict Enters Second Month and Spreads

The US-Israel war against Iran entered its second month with President Donald Trump claiming regime change has been achieved in Tehran and declaring a deal could be reached "soon," even as fighting intensified across the region, Pakistan announced plans to host peace talks, and the death toll surpassed 4,500 people. Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, cited the number of Iranian leaders killed during the month-long conflict as evidence that a new, more amenable leadership was now in place in Tehran. The IAEA confirmed on Sunday that Iran's Khondab heavy water production plant had sustained severe damage from a strike, a significant development given that one of the stated aims of the war is to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities. The US military has struck more than 11,000 targets and destroyed more than 150 Iranian vessels since the conflict began, according to Bloomberg. Iran rejected Trump's 15-point peace proposal and insisted on war reparations and other conditions that Washington has shown no willingness to accept, while Trump extended his deadline to April 6 for Tehran to agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face the demolition of its power plants.

Pakistan steps up as mediator, but Iran and US stay away Pakistan positioned itself as a potential mediator, with Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar announcing after a meeting in Islamabad that his country was prepared to host direct talks between Washington and Tehran in the coming days. The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt gathered in Islamabad for the first day of consultations, though neither Iranian nor US diplomats were present — a sign of the significant gaps that remain between the two sides. „Pakistan is very happy that both Iran and the US have expressed their confidence in Pakistan to facilitate the talks. Pakistan will be honoured to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in the coming days” — Ishaq Dar via France 24 Dar said he had also spoken with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the United Nations Secretary General, both of whom expressed support for Pakistan's peace initiative. The Iranian Kayhan newspaper, closely aligned with the regime's leadership, outlined nine demands for ending the conflict, including a full withdrawal of US forces from the region, dismantling US bases in West Asia, lifting sanctions, releasing frozen Iranian assets, and Iranian control over maritime transit through the Strait of Hormuz — all of which appeared to be non-starters for Washington. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, responding to reports that the Pentagon was preparing weeks of limited ground operations in Iran, said the planning did not mean the president had made a decision, but that it was the Pentagon's job to give the commander in chief "maximum optionality."

Iran's parliament speaker warns US troops would be 'set on fire' Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf dismissed the diplomatic overtures as a cover for a planned US ground invasion, issuing a stark warning to American forces. „The enemy publicly sends messages of negotiation and dialogue while secretly planning a ground attack. Our men are waiting for the arrival of the American soldiers on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional allies once and for all” — Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf via Al Jazeera Online Ghalibaf's statement, carried by the official IRNA news agency, came as the US announced that approximately 3,500 military personnel had arrived in the Middle East aboard the USS Tripoli, and as The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon was preparing for raids on Kharg Island and coastal sites near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Ministry of Health reported that 2,076 people had been killed on the Iranian side since the start of the war, including 216 children, while human rights monitors recorded at least 1,551 civilian deaths in Iran. Parts of Tehran and the neighboring Alborz province lost electrical power on Sunday after strikes on electricity infrastructure, though Iran's energy ministry said supply was largely restored within an hour. Six people were killed in a US-Israeli attack on a residential area in the Iranian village of Osmavandan, according to the Mehr news agency, which added that five houses were destroyed and 22 were severely damaged. The Israeli military said it dropped more than 120 munitions on sites used for research, development, and production of weaponry in Tehran on Sunday alone.

The US-Israel military campaign against Iran, known as Operation Epic Fury, began on February 28, 2026, with strikes that killed former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was appointed Supreme Leader on March 9, 2026. Hezbollah entered the broader conflict in early March following the killing of Ali Khamenei, drawing Lebanon into the war. The Strait of Hormuz, through which approximately 20% of the world's oil passes, has been effectively blockaded by Iran, sending energy markets into turmoil. The conflict has drawn in multiple regional actors, with Iran launching retaliatory strikes on Gulf Arab states and Israel, and now the Houthi movement in Yemen formally joining the fighting.

Lebanon front widens as UNIFIL peacekeeper killed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to further expand its invasion of southern Lebanon, pushing toward the Litani River in a bid to drive out Hezbollah. „I have just instructed to further expand the existing security buffer zone. We are determined to fundamentally change the situation in the north” — Benjamin Netanyahu via Al Jazeera Online A UNIFIL peacekeeper was killed and another critically injured by a projectile that struck a UN position in southern Lebanon, with UNIFIL saying it did not yet know the origin of the projectile and was investigating. Lebanon's Health Ministry reported that at least 1,238 people had been killed since Lebanon was drawn into the war on March 2, including 124 children, with more than 3,500 wounded. On Saturday and Sunday alone, 49 people were killed, including 10 rescue workers and three journalists killed in an Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in the town of Jezzine. The United Nations said more than 1.2 million people had been displaced in Lebanon. Meanwhile, the Houthis in Yemen launched ballistic missiles at Israel on Saturday and a second wave of missiles and drones at southern Israel on Sunday, formally entering the conflict and raising fears of further disruption to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and Red Sea shipping lanes, already under pressure from Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

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