Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Wright, said on Sunday that the Iranian people must mobilize to overthrow the Islamic Republic’s regime.
“I think we need boots on the ground, but they have to be Iranian boots, and I think they’re coming,” Wright told host Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
He pointed out that the war between the United States and Israel will only end when “there is no entity in Tehran that threatens the region.”
“Now, it’s hard to imagine a situation like this if the regime changes its mind, but assuming that happens, that’s the way it’s going to happen,” Wright said.
However, he predicts that such an outcome may only be achieved by the Iranian people rising up against the regime. Wright also noted that Iranian forces “brutally cracked down” on protesters earlier this year.
In the first 50 days of anti-regime demonstrations this winter, government-backed forces killed at least 6,488 protesters, at least 236 children and at least 76 civilians who did not participate in the protests, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported.
The military conflict, which is approaching the one-month mark, escalated again on Saturday as Israel attacked a nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, Iran. Tehran retaliated by firing missiles at the Israeli cities of Arad and Dimona, which are close to Israel’s main nuclear facilities.
Israel’s Ministry of Health said on Sunday that Soroka Medical Center was treating 180 people from the two cities, eight of whom were in serious condition, 24 in moderate condition and 148 in mild condition.
Wright vowed that Israel’s response to the attack would be to “continue this campaign until we bring this regime to its knees.”
“We can no longer coexist with a malicious country that seeks to destroy us, claims to destroy us all the time, and now launches ballistic missiles at all its neighbors. This must stop,” he added.
As of Saturday, at least 1,406 Iranian civilians, including at least 210 children, have been killed since the first U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28, according to HRANA.
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