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Benjamin Netanyahu has warned his armed forces will “do what we need to do” with Iran’s leadership as he claimed regime change could “certainly be the result” of Israel’s attacks on the Islamic republic.
The Israeli premier’s remarks — in response to a question about assassinating Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — came after a weekend of escalating hostilities where the bitter foes traded strikes on cities and energy infrastructure.
Since launching its surprise assault on Friday, Israel has killed key figures in Iran’s military and nuclear programme and has launched air strikes across the country, pitching the two of the Middle East’s most powerful militaries into outright war.
Asked in an interview with Fox News whether ousting Khamenei’s regime was one of the goals of Israel’s assault, Netanyahu said it “could certainly be the result because the leadership is very weak”.
“Eighty per cent of the people would throw these theological thugs out,” Israel’s prime minister continued. “The decision to act, to rise up, is the decision of the Iranian people.”
A US official confirmed a Reuters report that Donald Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Khamenei. Netanyahu declined to comment on the report.
“But I can tell you, I think that we do what we need to do, we’ll do what we need to do. And I think the United States knows what is good for the United States,” he added.
Israel has long pursued an assassination policy against its enemies in the region. Its armed forces have decimated the top ranks of the Iran-backed militant groups Hamas and Hizbollah since Israel was attacked by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Netanyahu spoke after Trump earlier on Sunday called for a deal between the warring parties, saying “many calls and meetings” were now taking place that would lead to peace soon. “Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal,” he wrote on Truth Social.
In a later call to ABC News, Trump said also Russian President Vladimir Putin was “ready” to mediate — adding that he was “open” to the idea and had discussed it with his Russian counterpart.
But despite Trump’s remarks Israel and Iran continued to trade strikes on Sunday.
Israeli officials said Israel’s armed forces had carried out strikes on more than 80 targets, including the defence ministry, military and nuclear sites, as well as at least two energy facilities. Iranian state media reported that Israel had carried out numerous attacks across Tehran including at least two in residential neighbourhoods in the city centre, and struck a major water pipeline, causing leaks in northern parts of the capital.
Online videos also showed columns of fire and smoke rising in downtown Tehran and other parts of the city, and police reported heavy traffic at Tehran’s exit routes, signifying many residents were leaving the capital for safer cities. Explosions were reported in Mashhad, Iran’s easternmost city, in a sign of Israel expanding its assault across the country.
At least 224 Iranian civilians have been killed in Israeli strikes since Friday.
Hossein Kermanpour, Iran’s health ministry spokesperson, said in a post on X that this demonstrated the Israeli government’s claim of supporting the Iranian people was a “false slogan”.
Meanwhile, Iran continued to fire barrages at Israel, including one on Sunday afternoon, and three during the night that killed 11 people and injured more than 200, as well as hitting refining infrastructure in the port of Haifa, according to a regulatory filing from the Bazan group.
Officials from the two countries also continued to trade threats, with Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz threatening to inflict similar destruction on Tehran as it did on Beirut in its offensive against the Lebanese militant group Hizbollah last year. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian pledged a “more painful” response should Israel continue its onslaught.
