Netanyahu says regime change in Iran, result of regime change in the country

16/6/2025 6:14

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.