Phares to Newsmax: Interim Iranian Government Needed Now as Regime Weakens

Former foreign policy adviser and author Walid Phares said Saturday on Newsmax that Washington should move quickly to work with a transitional Iranian authority, arguing that any effort to secure defections from Iran's military and militia forces will require a recognized interim governing body on the ground.

Appearing on Newsmax's "America Right Now," Phares said U.S. military operations were weakening the Iranian regime and creating pressure for a political structure that could guide any transfer of power.

His comments came as President Donald Trump said the United States should have a role in choosing Iran's next leader, Reuters reported.

Phares said he supported presidential involvement but drew a distinction between U.S. influence and the mechanics of forming a successor government.

"I would like to see our president be involved, but that's one process, and selecting the next government is another process that needs to be done in dialogue," he said.

He argued that the more urgent step was to recognize a transitional government that could coordinate with forces inside Iran if the current leadership collapsed.

"You have to coordinate on the ground when we tell the IRGC and others and the army in Iran, surrender your weapons, lay down your weapons. To whom? Public square? There needs to be a party now, or that would be an interim government that the president needs to work with in order to figure out the future," he said.

Phares likened that idea to the Allied backing of a Free French government during World War II, saying a similar arrangement would give Iranian military personnel a clear authority to answer to if asked to surrender their weapons.

Asked whether that would require arming the opposition, Phares said the situation was "very complex" and suggested some support was already underway through channels not publicly disclosed.

"First of all, no doubt about it, we all know here that our agencies have already started to do so. We're not going to see it on TV, but we know it from the NGOs what's happening on the ground," he said.

He said activity in Iran's Kurdistan region could be an early sign of movement among armed opposition elements and added that broader success would depend less on weapons alone than on political legitimacy.

A transitional governing nucleus, he said, could appeal directly to members of militias and the regular army, known as the Artesh, as the regime weakens.

"The more we are weakening the regime, the more these units will be willing [to defect]," Phares said. "They want to see that America will guarantee them. And the president is trying to send that message."

"Where we need to go faster is to recognize a transitional government," he said. "They want to see who will be managing them…and that [part] is still missing."

Reuters contributed to this report.

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