Netanyahu says regime change in Iran could be result of Israel’s attacks

WASHINGTON – Regime change in Iran could be a result of Israel’s military attacks on the country, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on June 15, saying Israel would do whatever is necessary to remove the “existential threat” posed by Tehran.

Israel

launched Operation Rising Lion

with a surprise attack on June 13 morning that wiped out the top echelon of Iran’s military command and damaged its nuclear sites, and says the campaign will continue to escalate in the coming days. Iran has vowed to “open the gates of hell” in retaliation.

Israel’s military has said the current goal of the campaign is not a change in regime, but the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

Asked by Fox’s Bret Baier on his Special Report programme if regime change was part of Israel’s military effort, Mr Netanyahu said: “Could certainly be the result because the Iran regime is very weak.”

“We’re geared to do whatever is necessary to achieve our dual aim, to remove... two existential threats – the nuclear threat and the ballistic missile threat,” Mr Netanyahu said in one of his first interviews since Israel’s attacks began.

“We did act – to save ourselves, but also, I think, to not only protect ourselves, but protect the world from this incendiary regime. We can’t have the world’s most dangerous regime have the world’s most dangerous weapons.”

Israel has said its operation could last weeks, and Mr Netanyahu has openly urged the Iranian people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers.

Israel and Iran

launched fresh attacks on each other

overnight into June 15, killing scores and raising fears of a wider conflict, as US President Donald Trump said it could be ended easily while warning Tehran not to strike any US targets.

Asked about a Reuters report that Mr Trump

vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

, Mr Netanyahu said: “I’m not going to get into that.”

But he said he had informed Mr Trump ahead of June 13’s military action. American pilots are shooting down Iranian drones headed towards Israel, Mr Netanyahu said.

With worries growing of a regional conflagration, Mr Trump has lauded Israel’s offensive while denying Iranian allegations that the US has taken part in it. He warned Tehran not to widen its retaliation to include US targets or else face the “full strength and might” of the US armed forces.

Mr Trump has repeatedly said Iran could end the war by agreeing to tough restrictions on its nuclear programme, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes but Western countries say could be used to make a bomb.

The latest round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the US, due to be held on June 15, was scrapped after Tehran said it would not negotiate while under Israeli attack. REUTERS