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"Seems like that would be the best thing that could happen," the president said Feb. 13, when he was asked if he wants regime change in Iran. Trump was speaking after a military event at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Anti-government protests in Iran appeared to accelerate on Jan. 9, sparked by anger over the collapse of the country's currency and a broader sense of hopelessness and disillusionment with Tehran's clerical leaders.

The uptick in unrest also comes as President Donald Trump warned Iran's authorities against killing peaceful protesters, saying Washington "will come to their rescue."

See the scenes in Iran, beginning here on the streets amid anti-government unrest in Tehran, Iran, in this still image obtained from social media video released on January 8, 2026. Witnesses told Reuters protesters gathered in the streets on Thursday, January 8, however this video's date taken has not been verified.

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See Iran's anti-government protests, huge crowds, unrest in photos

Anti-government protests in Iranappeared to accelerate on Jan. 9, sparked by anger over the collapse of the country's currency and a broader sense of hopelessness and disillusionment with Tehran's clerical leaders.

The uptick in unrest also comes as PresidentDonald Trumpwarned Iran's authorities against killing peaceful protesters, sayingWashington "will come to their rescue."See the scenes in Iran, beginning here on the streets amid anti-government unrest in Tehran, Iran, in this still image obtained from social media video released on January 8, 2026. Witnesses told Reuters protesters gathered in the streets on Thursday, January 8, however this video's date taken has not been verified.

"For 47 years, they've been talking and talking and talking," Trump said. "In the meantime, we've lost a lot of lives while they talk. Legs blown off, arms blown off, faces blown off. We've been going on for a long time."

Earlier in the day, Trump also commented on a U.S. aircraft carrier currently being moved to the region, to join other military military assets that have been moved there in recent weeks.

"In case we don't make a deal, we'll need it," Trump said. "If we need it, we'll have it ready."

It's not the first time the president has suggested that the removal ofAyatollah Ali Khameneias leader of Iran may be what he prefers. He made a similar comment in aJune 22 post on Truth Social.

"It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change???" the president posted.

Trump's latest remarks come as U.S. officials areseeking to make a deal with Iranover its nuclear program, and just weeks after the Iranian government responded to protests on its streets with a brutal crackdown,killing thousands.

Contributing: Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Trump backs regime change as 'best thing' in Iran

Messages sent between the pair in 2019, released in the massive document dump last month, reveal Bannon courted the late financier in his attempts to undermine the former pontiff after leaving the first Trump administration.

Bannon had been highly critical of Francis whom he saw as an opponent to his "sovereigntist" vision, a brand of nationalist populism which swept through Europe in 2018 and 2019. The released documents from the DOJ appear to show that Epstein had been helpingBannon to build his movement.

"Will take down (Pope) Francis," Bannon wrote to Epstein in June 2019. "The Clintons, Xi, Francis, EU – come on brother."

Pope Francis was a significant obstacle to Bannon's brand of nationalist populism. In 2018, the former Trump aide described Francis to The Spectator as"beneath contempt,"accusing him of siding with "globalist elites" and, according to "SourceMaterial," urged Matteo Salvini, now Italy's deputy prime minister, to"attack" the pontiff.For his part, Salvini has used Christian iconography and language when pursuing his anti-immigrant agenda.

Rome and the Vatican have been important for Bannon. He set up a Rome bureau when he ran Breitbart News and has been involved in trying to establish a political training "gladiator school" to defend Judaeo-Christian values not far from the Eternal City.

Francis, meanwhile, was a counterweight to the Trumpian worldview, strongly critiquing nationalism and making advocacy for migrants a hallmark of his pontificate.

The recently released DOJ files reveal Bannon messaged Epstein on several occasions in his efforts to undermine the late pope.

In his messages with Epstein, Bannon references "In the Closet of the Vatican," a 2019 book by French journalist Frédéric Martel that lifted a lid on secrecy and hypocrisy at high levels of the church. Martel created a storm with his book by claiming 80% of the clergy working in the Vatican are gay, while exploring how they keep their sexuality secret.

The whole question of homosexuality in the church has been a lightning rod for some conservatives, who see it as evidence of a deeper, systemic crisis in the church, with some linking it to the wider sexual abuse scandals. Most experts and researchers view any conflating of sexual orientation with abuse as scientifically inaccurate.

Bannon showed an interest in turning Martel's book into a film after meeting the author in Paris at a five-star hotel. In the messages, Bannon appears to suggest that Epstein could be the film's executive producer. "You are now exec producer of 'ITCOTV' (In the closet of the Vatican)," Bannon wrote.

It is not clear how serious the proposal from Bannon to Epstein was, and, in the exchange, Epstein doesn't mention the offer and asks about Bannon filming Noam Chomsky, the philosopher and public intellectual. Martel said when he met Bannon at the Hotel Le Bristol he told him that he could not agree to any film deal as his publishers controlled the film rights and had already signed a deal with another corporation. He told CNN that he thinks Bannon wanted to "instrumentalize" the book in his efforts against Pope Francis.

The Epstein files show Epstein, on April 1, 2019, emailed himself "in the closet of the vatican," and later sent Bannon an article titled "Pope Francis or Steve Bannon? Catholics must choose" to which Bannon replies "easy choice."

Austen Ivereigh, a biographer of the late pope, said Bannon thought he could use Martel's book to embarrass and damage Pope Francis, while claiming to "purify" the church. "I think he badly misjudged the nature of the book – and Pope Francis," Ivereigh told CNN.

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Yet, as it now turns out, it appears that Bannon was messaging Epstein several years after his 2008 conviction for child sex offenses and just before he was arrested for the sex trafficking of minors.

Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a Vatican official who collaborated closely with Pope Francis, told CNN Bannon's messages show a desire to fuse "spiritual authority with political power for strategic ends."

The late pope, Spadaro explains, resisted such a link: "What those messages reveal is not merely hostility toward a pontiff, but a deeper attempt to instrumentalize faith as a weapon – precisely the temptation he sought to disarm."

The period of 2018 to 2019 saw intense opposition to Francis, which culminated in an August 2018 dossier released by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former papal ambassador to the US, accusing him of failing to deal with abuse committed by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.A Vatican inquiry later cleared Francis.

But Bannon's desire to make a film out of Martel's book saw him lose an ally in the Vatican. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a prominent conservative critic of Francis, said: "I am not at all of the mind that the book should be made into a film."

Burke was also portrayed in an unflattering way in Martel's book. Burke's split with Bannon came when he cut ties with Dignitatis Humanae, a conservative institute founded by Benjamin Harnwell, a British political adviser and a close associate of Bannon's based in Italy.

Harnwell had been working with Bannon to set up an academy to train nationalist-populist leaders in an 800-year-old former monastery called "Certosa di Trisulti" in the province of Frosinone, 47 miles south-east of Rome. Harnwell is engaged in an ongoing legal battle with Italy's culture ministry over the monastery's conversion, with a hearing taking place on February 11.

In 2019, the Italian government revoked a lease given to Harnwell's institute for the monastery, stating irregularities, non-payments and misrepresentations by Harnwell. In 2024, however, a Roman court cleared him, and he is seeking to win back the lease.

The Epstein files also reveal that Bannon forwarded an email to Epstein in July 2018 with an article from Italian newspaper "La Repubblica" headlined "Bannon the European: He's opening the populist fort in Brussels." Bannon was forwarding an English translation of the article, which had originally been sent by Harnwell.

Harnwell told CNN that Epstein was "not involved in Trisulti."

Elsewhere in the files, Epstein jokes with his brother, Mark, about inviting Pope Francis to his residence for a "massage" during the US papal visit in 2015. Three years later, he messages Bannon to say he's trying to "organize a trip for the pope to the Midde East," adding "headline – tolerance."

When Bannon shares with Epstein an article about the Vatican condemning "populist nationalism," Epstein quotes John Milton's biblical poem "Paradise Lost," when Satan has been cast out of heaven.

"Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven," Epstein tells Bannon.

CNN has contacted a representative of Bannon for comment. Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein or any allegation of sexual misconduct.

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Banging drums and chanting for regime change, the large and boisterous demonstrationin Munichwas part of what Pahlavi described as a "global day of action" to support Iranians in the wake of deadly nationwide protests. Pahlavi also called for rallies in Los Angeles and Toronto.

"Change, change, regime change" chanted the crowd of many thousands of people, waving green-white-and-red flags with lion and sun emblems. Iran used that flag beforeits 1979 Islamic Revolutionthat toppled the Pahlavi dynasty.

Some demonstrators sported "Make Iran Great Again" red caps, mimicking the MAGA caps worn by U.S. PresidentDonald Trump's supporters. Many waved placards showing Pahlavi, some that called him a king. The son of Iran's deposed shah has been in exile for nearly 50 years but istrying to position himselfas a player in Iran's future.

"We have huge hopes and (are) looking forward that the regime is going to change hopefully," said Daniyal Mohtashamian, a demonstrator.

The crowd chanted "Pahlavi for Iran" and "democracy for Iran" as drums and cymbals sounded. Police said at least 15,000 people attended, German news agency dpa reported.

Mohtashamian said he traveled from Zurich, in Switzerland, to speak up for protesters inside Iran who faced repression.

"There is an internet blackout and their voices are not going outside of Iran," he said.

Iranian leaders are already under intense pressure, facing renewedthreats of U.S. military action. Trump wants Iran to further scale back its nuclear program. He suggested Friday thatregime change in Iran"would be the best thing that could happen."

Iran was also the focus of protests in Munich on Friday,the opening dayof an annual security conference in the city gathering European leaders and global security figures. Supporters of the Iranian opposition group People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, demonstrated againstIran's deadly crackdownon protesters last month.

At a news conference in Munich, Pahlavi warned of the likelihood of more deaths in Iran if "democracies stand by and watch."

"We gather at an hour of profound peril to ask: Will the world stand with the people of Iran?" he asked.

He added that the Iranian government's continued survival "sends a clear signal to every bully: kill enough people and you stay in power."

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says at least 7,005 people were killed in the protest, including 214 government forces. It has been accurate in counting deaths during previous rounds of unrest in Iran and relies on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths.

Iran's government offered its only death toll on Jan. 21, saying 3,117 people were killed. Iran's theocracy in the past has undercounted or not reported fatalities from past unrest.

The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll, given authorities have disrupted internet access and international calls in Iran.

AP journalist John Leicester contributed from Paris.

According to The Athletic, Gallen's deal is worth $22,025,000 -- the same value of Arizona's qualifying offer that Gallen rejected. The same report added that $14 million of the salary would be deferred.

Gallen, 30, was coming off his worst full season as a pro. He went 13-15 in 33 starts with a 4.83 ERA, 175 strikeouts and 66 walks. The losses, ERA and walks all marked career-worst numbers.

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Gallen was an All-Star in 2023 and finished third in National League Cy Young Award voting after going 17-9 with a 3.47 ERA, a career-high 220 strikeouts and 47 walks in 34 starts (210 innings).

In 176 career major league appearances (all starts) for the Miami Marlins (2019) and Arizona (2019-25), Gallen is 66-52 with a 3.58 ERA. He finished ninth in NL Cy Young balloting in 2020 and fifth in 2022.

--Field Level Media

Wisconsin (18-7, 10-4 Big Ten) is the first team to post three wins over top-10 squads this season. The Badgers won91-88at No. 2 Michigan on Jan. 10 and pulled out a92-90overtime victory at No. 8 Illinois on Tuesday.

The Badgers made their first five 3-point attempts in the opening 5 1/2 minutes and never looked back on their way to a surprisingly easy victory that ended with a court storming.

Wisconsin never trailed and led by as many as 24. The Badgers shot 15 of 35 from 3-point range, including 10 of 17 in the first half.

Boyd scored 20 of his 29 points in the first half, while John Blackwell had 19 of his 24 in the second half. Nolan Winter added 10 points and 11 rebounds for Wisconsin.

Coen Carr had 19 points to lead Michigan State (20-5, 10-4). Jeremy Fears Jr. had 14 points and 12 assists, but he shot just 3 of 12 from the floor.

Michigan State trailed 24-14 when Spartans center Carson Cooper landed awkwardly on a drive attempt and briefly left the game. The Badgers outscored Michigan State 8-0 while Cooper was out — completing a 15-0 spurt — and led 32-14 when he got back on the floor two minutes later.

The Spartans cut the margin to nine on a couple of occasions after Cooper returned, but Wisconsin built its lead back up and led 51-34 at the break. The margin never dipped below 15 in the second half.

Up next

Michigan State hosts UCLA on Tuesday night.

Wisconsin visits Ohio State on Tuesday night.

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