As Israel strikes Iran, is regime change the ultimate target?
Netanyahu tells Iranians their ‘day of liberation is near’ as Israeli strikes target Iran’s nuclear sites and military prestige
Israel’s surprise attack on Iran had an obvious goal of sharply disrupting Iran’s nuclear programme and lengthening the time it would need to develop an atomic weapon.
But the scale of the attacks, Israel’s choice of targets, and its politicians’ own words suggest another, longer-term objective: toppling the regime itself.
The strikes early on Friday hit not just Iran’s nuclear facilities and missile factories but also key figures in the country’s military chain of command and its nuclear scientists, blows that appear aimed at diminishing Iran’s credibility both at home and among its allies in the region – factors that could destabilise the Iranian leadership, experts said.
“One assumes that one of the reasons that Israel is doing that is that they’re hoping to see regime change,” said Michael Singh of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former senior official under President George W. Bush.
“It would like to see the people of Iran rise up,” he said, adding that the limited civilian casualties in the initial round of attacks also spoke to a broader aim.
However, in Iran’s capital Tehran, anger mixed with worry as Iranians woke up on Saturday to images of their country’s retaliatory attacks on Israel.
“Israel killed our commanders and what do they expect in return? A kiss?” said Mahmoud Dorri, a 29-year-old taxi driver. “We will go after them to punish them: an eye for an eye.”