Gate News message: On April 4, U.S. President Trump said this week that Iran’s new leadership is “more moderate and more rational.” Trump and the Pentagon have repeatedly claimed that Iran has undergone a regime change. But most political scientists and analysts believe that what is called a regime change should refer to external forces changing a country’s system of governance, rather than simply replacing the leadership of that system. Instead, this war has strengthened the power of Iran’s hardline military faction and intensified anti-U.S. sentiment. Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said: “This regime is more hawkish, less inclined to compromise, and, frankly, has more direct ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. We saw Iran’s top leadership at the time be ‘decapitated’ removed, but that did not translate into power realignment or any major shift in its stance toward the United States.”