If there is an effort to replace the Ayatollahs in Iran, that effort needs to come from the Iranian people themselves, according to former Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.
Neither America nor its allies should be leading the charge, he said.
In an interview with Newsmax, Friedman responded to a question about if the U.S. should help to overthrow the Iranian government by saying that “the people in Iran, probably 80 percent of the people living in Iran, think there ought to be a regime change.”
“This is a regime that when a woman walks out and her hair is not completely covered, you know, she's arrested, she's beaten, sometimes she's never seen again. So the domestic terror that the regime places upon the Iranian people is devastating,” Friedman said.
But, while other nations can support the move, they should not be taking the lead in regime change, Friedman emphasized.
“How to fix that? I think the Iranians have to fix that themselves. I hope that, you know, friendly nations give them covert support. But at the end of the day, this regime came into force through a revolution back in 1979. They came in through a revolution, and they're going to have to leave, I think, through a domestic revolution,” Friedman said, adding that a result of regime change can lead to a drastic improvement in Iran’s relationship with the international community.
Friedman posted other commentary on the strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities on X over the weekend:
The US and Israel have performed exactly as planned, both strategically and tactically. Iran’s nuclear facilities are gone and it is hard to imagine how they can be rebuilt.
— David M Friedman (@DavidM_Friedman) June 22, 2025
In the aftermath, the messaging has been perfect: “we are not sending soldiers to your territory, we did…
The president just saved millions of lives by eliminating the threat of a nuclear attack by a radical Islamist regime. He acted fully in accordance with law. The fact that you see this so negatively disqualifies you from serious leadership. https://t.co/QraQPlhAs4
— David M Friedman (@DavidM_Friedman) June 22, 2025