An ending, not an escalation: On paper, Israel has five formal goals for its military campaign against Iran, Knesset member Ohad Tal told our Andrew Tobin: destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities, eliminate its missile arsenal, dismantle its military production infrastructure, crush its ability to fund terrorist proxies, and deter future aggression. Regime change is not officially on that list. But unofficially, “I think that’s what everybody hopes for,” said Tal.
As Israel ramps up its strikes on Iranian energy, aviation, and manufacturing infrastructure, its officials are signaling that there’s growing interest in pushing for regime change. In an English-language video message, for example, Netnayahu called on “the Iranian people to unite around its flag, and its historic legacy, by standing up for your freedom from the evil and oppressive regime.” He also told ABC News that targeting Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei would “end the conflict” rather than “escalate” it.
“Because the war so far is a huge success,” there is “serious consideration of toppling the regime and creating the terms for the Iranian people to rise up and take over the country,” former brigadier general Amir Avivi told Tobin. Asked what that might look like, Avivi responded, “Kill the leadership. All of them.”
READ MORE: Israel Moves Toward Regime Change in Iran
Ali, meet Hassan: Regime change may not be an official goal of Israel’s campaign (yet), but that isn’t stopping John Fetterman from pushing for it.
In an interview with the Free Beacon, Fetterman urged Israel to target Ali Khamenei “just like Nasrallah,” a reference to the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, whom the IDF took out last year in a series of airstrikes. “Israel has fully earned the right to do whatever it can to finish off Iran,” Fetterman said. “I think doing what’s necessary on Iran creates the ultimate opportunity for the regime to fall. Break and humiliate that cancerous regime.”
Israel’s opening salvo in Tehran has not killed Khamenei, but it appears to have broken him. Khamenei, Israeli journalist Amit Segal reported, is “in a difficult mental state” as “everyone who worked with him is dead and he is having a hard time with their replacements.” It couldn’t have happened to a better person.
READ MORE: Fetterman Urges Israel To Take Out the Ayatollah: ‘No Mercy’
You stay classy, Tehran: The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting is Ali Khamenei’s official propaganda mouthpiece. Khamenei has long used the network, the leader of which he hand picks, to air forced confessions from political prisoners and fake footage of Iran’s purported military exploits against Israel. On Monday, the whole thing went up in smoke—literally.
As a hijab-clad presenter disseminated regime talking points on one of the IRIB’s television channels, a loud explosion rocked the studio, sending pieces of the network’s headquarters flying into frame as smoke filled the room. The anchor ran offscreen as her crew behind the camera began to shout, and the live feed quickly went dark.
“The strike—and others like it—highlight how Israel has significantly broadened its military campaign in recent days, hitting the hardline Iranian regime’s political institutions, government buildings, and military headquarters,” our Adam Kredo writes. “The attacks are meant to further destabilize an Islamic Republic already on the defensive following Israel’s successful opening salvo.”
READ MORE: WATCH: Iran’s State-Run TV Station Goes Up in Smoke
In other news:
- Trump v. Tucker: Two days after he took aim at the isolationists in his coalition, Donald Trump had this to say about Tucker Carlson, who recently accused the president of “being complicit” in Israel’s “act of war”: “I don’t know what Tucker Carlson is saying. Let him go get a television network and say it so that people listen. Thank you.”
- Iran “has been urgently signaling that it seeks an end to hostilities and resumption of talks over its nuclear programs,” reported the Wall Street Journal, which went on to note that there’s “no indication Iran is ready to make new concessions” in those talks. Good try, guys.
- Tails between legs: Ali Khamenei’s senior officials are reportedly in talks to secure asylum in Russia should things deteriorate for the regime. “We have indications that senior leaders in Iran are already packing their bags.”
