Tillerson: US does not plan to change regime in Iran

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson expressed skepticism at US-driven regime change efforts, and said he considered it would be his job as the nation’s top diplomat to develop the options to avoid the need for that.

“Any decision to affect a change of leadership in a country by force cannot be taken lightly,” Tillerson said in response to questions from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a libertarian skeptical of US military interventions.

“My job is to make sure we never get there… to chart out other pathways by which we can have steady progress to cause regimes to change their behavior,” Tillerson said.