The United States is not after regime change in Iran, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said.
Asked whether the U.S. administration had created a regime change or collapse policy, Mattis said on July 27, "There's none that's been instituted."
He said the goal of the United States was to change Iran’s behavior, as stated by other U.S. officials.
"We need them to change their behavior on a number of threats that they can pose with their military, with their secret services, with their surrogates, and with their proxies," Mattis said during an off-camera briefing at the Pentagon.
Mattis's remarks followed high-level discussions at the White House that included the issue of Iran.
They came amid increased tensions and an exchange of threats between Washington and Tehran, including a July 22 all-capital-letters post on Twitter by Donald Trump in which the U.S. president warned Iran not to "threaten the United States again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before."
Trump's tweet came following comments by Iran’s President Hassan Rohani, who said: "America should know peace with Iran is the mother of all peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars."
In May, Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and announced that the United States is moving to reimpose tough sanctions.
The move was harshly criticized by Iran.
