WASHINGTON (Reuters) -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 Sunday, 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 Friday 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 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 programs.
Asked by Fox’s Bret Baier on his “Special Report” program if regime change was part of Israel’s military effort, 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,” 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,” he said.
Israel has said its operation could last weeks, and 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 Sunday, killing scores and raising fears of a wider conflict, as U.S. President Donald Trump said it could be ended easily while warning Tehran not to strike any U.S. targets.
Asked about a Reuters report that Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Netanyahu said: “I’m not going to get into that.”
But he said he had informed Trump ahead of Friday’s military action. American pilots are shooting down Iranian drones headed toward Israel, he said.
With worries growing of a regional conflagration, Trump has lauded Israel’s offensive while denying Iranian allegations that the U.S. has taken part in it. He warned Tehran not to widen its retaliation to include U.S. targets or else face the “full strength and might” of the U.S. armed forces.
Trump has repeatedly said Iran could end the war by agreeing to tough restrictions on its nuclear program, 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 United States, due to be held on Sunday, was scrapped after Tehran said it would not negotiate while under Israeli attack.
(Reporting by Michael Martina and Katharine JacksonEditing by Peter Graff and Giles Elgood)
By Michael Martina and Katharine Jackson
