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 change of regime has taken place. But most political scientists and analysts believe that what is called a change of regime refers to external forces changing a country’s governance model—not merely replacing the leaders of that system. Instead, this war has strengthened the power of Iran’s hardline military faction and intensified anti-American sentiment. Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said: “This regime is even more hawkish, less inclined to compromise, and—frankly—has even more direct ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. We saw the then top leadership of Iran be ‘decapitated’ and removed, but that did not translate into shifts in power or any major change in its stance toward the United States.” (Source: PANews)