WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – Republican Senator Ted Cruz has declared that the United States’ objective in its war on Iran should be “regime collapse,” calling on President Donald Trump to trigger riot and arm violent rioters against the Tehran government rather than pursue diplomacy.
In an interview on the “School of War” podcast with CBS News national security analyst Aaron MacLean, the Texas senator explicitly rejected the diplomatic path the Trump administration is currently exploring, branding the June U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding a “disaster” and a “terrible deal”. 
He warned that the agreement, which envisioned sanctions relief and access to $300 billion in reconstruction funds, would strengthen Iran.
“Giving them $300 billion is an exceptionally bad idea. It was a bad idea two months ago, it’s a bad idea today and it would be a bad idea two months from now,” Cruz said.
Instead, Cruz argues Washington should continue striking Iranian targets, maintain a naval blockade to choke off oil exports, and directly arm mercenaries inside Iran. 
“What I believe we should do, what I have urged President Trump repeatedly, what I’ve urged Israel to do repeatedly, is arm the protesters, give them the guns, to let them overthrow their own government so that it’s not American boots on the ground, it’s Iranians fighting for their own country,” he said.
Cruz first pushed for arming violent rioters in late January. His stance puts him at odds with Vice President JD Vance, who has allegedly led diplomatic efforts and defended negotiations as the path to ending the war.
Acknowledging that “regime change” carries negative historical baggage, Cruz said he does not “particularly care who comes next” after Iran’s government falls—whether “the son of the Shah,” the terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization, or “someone local”.
“I don’t have a dog whether it’s the son of the Shah, whether it is the [MKO], whether it is someone local,” Cruz said.
Cruz’s push for arming rioters and triggering unrest aligns with a pattern of explicit U.S. encouragement for violent upheaval inside Iran. 
In January 2026, as violent riots erupted, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to urge Iranians to “KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!” and declared that “HELP IS ON ITS WAY”. 
He promised that those involved in dealing with rioters would “pay a big price”, after Washington used it as a pretext to barbarously bomb Iran, with the New York Times later acknowledging that the riots were part of the U.S.-Israeli military plan.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo fueled further speculation of foreign involvement by posting on X: “Happy New Year to every Iranian in the streets. Also to every Mossad agent walking beside them.” 
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi subsequently stated that Tehran possesses evidence of U.S. and Israeli involvement in the terrorist riots, adding that Pompeo had “admitted that agents of Mossad were guiding the terrorist movement together with rioters”.
Trump later explicitly confirmed that the U.S. had sent weapons to Iran, telling reporters, “We sent guns, a lot of guns,” though he claimed the weapons were intercepted by “Kurds” who “kept them”. 
He said the weapons were “supposed to go to the people so they could fight back against these thugs”. In a separate interview, he acknowledged that he never believed an uprising could succeed “unless they could be completely armed”.