US, Iran continue contacts — Trump

WASHINGTON, April 2. /TASS/. Washington continues to maintain contact with Iranian representatives, US President Donald Trump stated. "In the meantime, discussions are ongoing. Regime change was not our goal <…>, but regime change has occurred because of all of their original leaders’ death. <…> The new group is less radical and much more reasonable," the US leader said during a televised address to the nation. Trump also emphasized that Iran is essentially no longer a threat to the US. Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei reported that Tehran had received a proposal from Washington, via Islamabad and other mediators, to hold talks, but there had been no direct contact. The United States and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on February 28. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, were struck. The White House justified the attack by citing alleged missile and nuclear threats from Iran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel. US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were also hit. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and some other key Iranian leaders were killed in the joint US-Israeli attack.