People gather during a protest on Jan. 8, 2026, in Tehran, Iran. (Anonymous/Getty Images)
"I think eventually the regime is not going to be able to keep a thumb on their people," Messmer said.
The U.S. on Monday deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln to U.S. Central Command waters in the Indian Ocean, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke to Fox News on Monday. The move comes as Tehran’s government carried out a brutal crackdown in the country that left thousands dead earlier this month.
In its wake, Trump condemned the killing and called for regime change in Iran. Trump described a conversation with Iranian envoys, warning them about the consequences that would follow if they failed to stop the killings. "I said, 'If you hang those people, you're going to be hit harder than you've ever been hit,'" Trump said.
Questions remain about whether the president may see some form of American intervention as a way to precipitate that change amid the ongoing unrest.
Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, trusts Trump’s decision-making process and believes that the U.S. would be acting consistently with its own interests to apply military power in toppling Iran’s current government.
"You know what, I trust President Trump, I trust our military," Babin said.
"It is time for a regime change. There was a red line established by President Trump. He means what he says, and he says what he means in plain English," Babin said, referring to warnings Trump made to Iran’s leadership about killing protesters.
"I would not want to be one of the ayatollah’s brutal henchmen mowing down and brutalizing, torturing their own people," Babin said.
Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., agreed with Babin, framing his stance as a way the U.S. could eliminate terror threats well beyond just Iran.
"Iran is the center of terrorism. They’ll fund anyone who goes against Israel and who goes against the United States of America. So, if you don’t think I would be for strategically bombing the leadership of the dictatorship that runs Iran, you would be mistaken," Meuser said.
Trump said that the United States completed a "very successful" strike against Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, saying that Iran’s nuclear enrichment installations have been "obliterated." (Fox News)
Rep. Rudy Yakym, R-Ind., believes Trump has proved that’s an option he’s willing to use when it comes to Tehran.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
"The president has long said that Iran could never have access to a nuclear weapon. Look at the decisive leadership that the president took against Iran to ensure that their access to nuclear weapons would be denied," Yakym said, referring to the June 2025 American strike on Iran’s Fordow base, a nuclear enrichment facility Trump destroyed.
"And certainly, as we go forward, we will stand with the people of Iran," Yakym added.
Fox News Digital's Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-lawmakers-split-us-military-intervention-fulfill-trumps-calls-regime-change-iran