Republican senators advocate Tehran 'regime change', economic pain

Two Republican senators told Iran International on Thursday that Washington must deploy economic pressure to cripple it Mideast adversary the Islamic Republic of Iran.

"Everything we can do to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and ultimately to support regime change in Iran would be an improvement in US national security", Texas Senator Ted Cruz said.

"I think we have many points of leverage short of military action and economic and diplomatic pressure can have a profoundly powerful effect," he added. "The Ayatollah's intentions are unquestionably hostile. He is a theocratic genocidal lunatic."

Trump has threatened to bomb Iran if it does not reach a new nuclear accord. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed retaliation in the event of an attack.

Previously, the populist US President who campaigned in part on avoiding foreign wars has said he wishes the Iranian people well and suggested he does not seek the overthrow of its theocratic rulers.

Trump in February reinstated the "maximum pressure" campaign of sanctions on Iran from his first term with the aim of bringing Iranian oil sales down to zero.

Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons but the United Nations nuclear watchdog said it now possesses the largest stockpile of enriched uranium of any non-nuclear armed state.

Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama expressed support for increased pressure on Iran, emphasizing sanctions targeting key sectors like oil and gas.

“If you're going to put sanctions on somebody – what President Trump does—for Iran and for the regime that's even killing its own people—is, you do blockade," Tuberville told Iran International.

"You take away their source of being able to make a living, and that’s through their oil and gas."