As the Israeli strike against Iran has heated up, the two best-known expatriate leaders of resistance to the theocratic regime have called for its overthrow. In calling for regime change, both Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, and Reza Pahlavi, son of the last Shah (king) of Iran, each offered not-so-subtle hints that they want to play a role in the governance of the new Iran.

But Steve Bannon, onetime counselor to President Donald Trump and host of the much-viewed podcast "The War Room," told Newsmax Wednesday he feels the next government in Tehran should be exclusively in the hands of the Iranian people.

Asked at a press breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor who should be running Iran if Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is deposed, Bannon replied: "Who in this city even knows? It hasn't been an issue since last Thursday." Israel commenced its bombing strike against Iran in the early hours of Friday, while it was still Thursday in the U.S.

"If you want regime change, it has to come from the bottom," he told us.

"[I]t almost happened in Iran because of President Trump's sanctions," he said, referencing Trump's first term. "If you're going to do this, you have to go up the escalatory ladder and wage economic warfare."

Addressing the claims of Rajavi and Pahlevi, Bannon said: "So there are options there. But that takes time, and then you see people in the country get on board.

"The way to have the regime overthrown is to have people in the country overthrow it — for their freedom. So they're bought in. We sit here and say, 'Have you looked at the [Iran National] Council?' I don't know. No one in this [expletive deleted] town knows.

"We never talked about regime change in Iran," he added.

"So something's going to come up in 72 hours, and we're going to make a decision about whether the shah or MEK [Mujahedeen-e-Khalq] or people no one has done any due diligence about" will be in charge, Bannon said.

"And the American people have no earthly idea what you are talking about. This is the absurdity of it."

In calling for regime change in a speech to the European Parliament a day before Bannon's remarks, Rajavi said: "Yes, there is a concrete alternative — one with a clear program and a long history of relentless struggle against this religious dictatorship. That alternative is the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which turns 44 this year."

Pahlavi, in a video statement in Farsi with English subtitles, declared that the Iranian people "are prepared for the first hundred days after the fall, for the transitional period, and for the establishment of a national and democratic government — by the Iranian people and for the Iranian people."

Revealing that members of the police and military as well as state workers in Iran have contacted him recently, Pahlavi warned them not to stand with the regime and said: "By standing with the people, you can save your lives. ... and take part in building Iran's future."

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Click Here Now.