Author: Maayan Lubell and Rami Ayyub
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implicitly threatened on Thursday to kill Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, even as he acknowledged that a joint Israeli-U.S. air war might not lead to the collapse of Tehran’s clerical government.
Holding his first news conference since the war began, the Israeli leader said Iran was “no longer the same” after nearly two weeks of bombardment, which has battered Tehran’s elite Revolutionary Guards and Basij military forces.
Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah opened fire on March 2 to avenge Israel’s killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (father of Mojtaba Khamenei) at the start of the war, after which he vowed to continue fighting Lebanese Hezbollah.
Standing between two Israeli flags and taking questions via video link, Netanyahu was asked what action Israel might take against Ayatollah Khamenei and Hezbollah leader Naim Qasim:
“I will not issue life insurance on any leader of a terrorist organization…I am not going to provide an accurate report here on what we are planning or what we will do.”
As Netanyahu spoke, sirens sounded across much of central Israel, warning of a missile attack from Iran.
Israel said the attack on Iran was aimed at eliminating what it saw as an existential threat posed by Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. It also expressed hope that by encouraging Iranians to rise up, it would lead to the collapse of the government.
While many Iranians want change and some openly celebrated the death of Ali Khamenei, whose security forces killed thousands of anti-government protesters weeks ago, there has been no sign of protests since the war began.
Asked whether Israel was arming opponents of Iran’s rulers and whether the government’s collapse might not be achieved, Netanyahu said that even if the government did not collapse, it would remain weak.
Netanyahu said: “I will not elaborate on the actions we are taking. We are creating the best conditions for the overthrow of the regime, but I will not deny, I cannot tell you with complete certainty that the Iranian people will overthrow the regime – a regime is overthrown from within.”
“But we can definitely help, and we are helping.”
(Reporting by Maayan Lubell, Rami Ayyub and Steven Scheer)