U.S. Senator Cruz Urges Collapse of Iranian Regime Amid Ongoing Military Operations

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas called Monday for the collapse of Iran’s ruling government, describing the United States’ military campaign against Tehran as overwhelmingly successful, in an interview on Fox News during the Jesse Watters Primetime program.

Sen. Cruz outlined the progress of U.S. operations in Iran since the onset of the conflict, noting that American forces had targeted air defenses, missile and drone production facilities, and naval assets.

“The first three weeks of this military conflict have been incredibly successful,” Sen. Cruz said. “We’ve taken out all of Iran’s air defenses. We’ve taken out virtually every one of their short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles. We’ve taken out their missile production capacity. We’ve taken out their drone capacity, we’ve taken out their drone manufacturing. You look at what we’ve done to the Navy. We have had over 8,000 strikes in Iran and on the Navy. We have sunk more than 120 ships. This is the largest naval defeat, the most ships sunk since World War II. In three weeks.”

Sen. Cruz asserted that the regime’s leadership, including the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior military figures, had been decapitated.

He framed the objective of U.S. action as the removal of a government responsible, in his view, for long-standing attacks on Americans and support for armed groups abroad.

“The outcome, I believe, should be simple and straightforward. We want to see a government in Iran that is not run by crazed Islamists who lead mobs chanting death to America,” he said, adding that the regime had funded groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.

The senator praised President Donald Trump’s ultimatum regarding the Strait of Hormuz and described his own advice to Trump before the military action commenced.

Sen. Cruz recounted that he had urged the president to reject negotiations with the Ayatollah unless Iran accepted terms comparable to those offered to Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, which would allow Iranian leaders to go into exile.

“All the Ayatollah is trying to do is delay, delay and delay while they build missiles, while they build drones, while they try to reconstitute their nuclear program,” Cruz said.

When asked whether negotiations with Iran’s parliament speaker could be acceptable, Sen. Cruz replied that any outcome short of regime collapse was insufficient. “I don’t have a dog in the fight of who the next leader of Iran is. I just want it not to be an Islamist who wants to murder us,” he said.

Sen. Cruz characterized the military strikes as a direct response to Iran’s long history of killing Americans.

“The Ayatollah twice hired hitmen trying to kill President Trump. And I got to say, when the Ayatollah said death to America, I believe him. I don’t think those were empty words, and President Trump believed him as well,” he said.

The senator described the strikes as affecting multiple Iranian military and industrial sectors, emphasizing the destruction of naval vessels and aerial defense systems, while asserting that the U.S. had significantly diminished Iran’s offensive capabilities.

Sen. Cruz’s comments come amid ongoing reports of U.S. military operations in the region, and follow the announcement that Iran’s leadership, including the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been removed from power.

Sen. Cruz concluded by emphasizing the administration’s approach to negotiations, stating that any acceptable deal for Iran’s leaders must resemble the exile terms offered to Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. “Thankfully, the Ayatollah is not with us anymore, so I suspect he is also regretting not taking that deal,” Sen. Cruz said.

The United States continues to maintain military pressure while asserting control over strategic areas, including the Strait of Hormuz, as the conflict enters a subsequent phase of operational and diplomatic maneuvering.