FM Sa’ar to CNN: Israel doesn’t seek regime change in Iran, up to US whether to join the fight

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar tells CNN’s Bianna Golodryga that Israel’s campaign against Iran is aimed at preventing it from obtaining nuclear weapons, not at toppling the regime in Tehran.

“The goal is not regime change. That’s for the Iranian people to decide. We, Israel, do not see the Iranian people as our enemies,” Sa’ar says.

The foreign minister says Israel has already achieved “significant success” in its military campaign, adding that previous assessments showed the Islamic Republic could develop an atomic bomb “within six months,” and possesses enough enriched uranium for nine nuclear bombs.

Sa’ar thanks the United States for its support of Israel, but says any direct involvement in Israel’s efforts to destroy Iran’s military capabilities is Washington’s decision: “They have their calculations, and they’ll decide…but it is not for us to decide what other nations will do in that context.”

He acknowledges that the Israeli government anticipated casualties resulting from Iran’s retaliatory strikes following Israel’s surprise assault, but says that the operation was unavoidable.

“When we made this historic, difficult decision, we knew we would face hard times and suffer losses. But even so, we had no other choice,” Sa’ar says.

Since the launch of Israel’s offensive on Friday, thirteen Israelis have been killed in Iranian missile attacks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi canceled his own scheduled interview with Golodryga upon learning that Sa’ar would appear after him, a move Sa’ar tells the interviewer he is “not surprised” by.