Leaked paper: Washington determined to drive regime change in Iran

The plan was authored by the Security Studies Group, or SSG, which has close ties with National Security Adviser John Bolton.

The project for regime change was shunned by the Obama administration when popular protests gripped Iran in 2009, according to the Free Beacon, which obtained a leaked copy of the white paper.

The Trump administration’s exit from the landmark nuclear deal and reimposition of harsh economic sanctions is part of their resolve to bring about regime change, and is focused on driving a wedge between the Iranian people and their rulers.

Although the plan does not ostensibly involve direct military intervention for the moment, it aims at creating economic hardships for ordinary people in order to foment unrest.

“The ordinary people of Iran are suffering under economic stagnation,” the SSG disingenuously claims. “This has provoked noteworthy protests across the country in recent months.”

Jim Hanson, SSG’s president, told the Free Beacon that Trump is very focused on efforts to rid Iran of its government.

An NSC official declined to comment on the report, but confirmed that the Trump administration was eager to “change the Iranian regime’s behavior”.

One source close to the White House who has previewed the plan told the Free Beacon that the nuclear deal, also known as the JCPOA, solidified the Iranian government’s popularity and intentionally prevented the United States from overthrowing the Iranian government.

“The JCPOA purposefully destroyed the carefully created global consensus against the Islamic Republic,” said the source.

Bolton believes that the elected government of Iran is a danger to Israel and the Saudis especially. “Nothing’s off the table right now if Israel is attacked,” the source added, noting the real possibility of another Iraq or Libya scenario in the Middle East, despite statements to the contrary.

In fact a false flag attack would mean American military intervention against Iran. “A credible hard power option exists,” according to the plan.  A second source confirmed to the Free Beacon the administration wants Iran’s leadership out as soon as possible.

“The problem is not the Iran nuclear deal it’s the Iranian regime,” said the source. “Team Bolton has spent years creating Plans B, C, and D for dealing with that problem. President Trump hired him knowing all of that. The administration will now start aggressively moving.”

According to the SSG, “more than one third of Iran’s population is minority groups, many of whom already seek independence”. US support for such independence movements, both overt and covert, could force the government into a corner, the SSG argues.

Without a regime change, the United States will continue to lose their grip on the region, including in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon.

Israel, the US and Saudi Arabia can all secretly help to advance regime change in Iran, former top Mossad official Haim Tomer told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

Now that the US has voluntarily placed itself back on track for a huge military confrontation with Iran, thousands of lives and trillions in tax payer dollars are at stake again.

Trump’s recipe to apply endless economic pressure on Iran to force its people into further misery, is likely to backfire, says Farshad Farahat, member of the Board of Directors of Ploughsares Fund, a global security foundation that supports initiatives to prevent the spread and use of nuclear weapons.