Israel’s US envoy: War aims ‘probably can’t’ be achieved without regime change in Iran

Israeli Ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter said in a podcast that aired yesterday that Israel “probably can’t” achieve its goals in the war with Iran without regime change, and described a closer alliance between Jerusalem and Gulf states as they handle the Iranian threat.

“The purpose [of the war] is to make sure that we don’t have a power, an entity in Tehran, which is developing nuclear weapons, is developing weapons of mass destruction in terms of these ballistic missiles, and is supporting proxies around the region,” Leiter told hosts Danielle Pletka and Marc Thiessen on the American Enterprise Institute’s “What the Hell is Going On?” podcast.

“That’s what we’re focused on. Now, if that can be done without regime change, okay. Probably can’t, though. So at the very least, what we want is regime collapse,” Leiter said.

Regime change was never one of the official goals of the war, and while Israeli leaders indicated their desire to topple the Islamic Republic at the start of the conflict, the regime’s apparent resilience has led recent messaging to focus mostly on degrading its military capabilities.

The ambassador added that Gulf states “have become even greater allies over the past month” and have requested assistance from Israel during the conflict. “Whether it’s UAE, Bahrain, I think we’ve become closer to the Saudis, closer to the Omanis, closer to the Kuwaitis for crying out loud,” he said.

“They’ve asked us for assistance. So we become closer, and there’s going to be a concerted effort,” he said, without elaborating.

Continuing his remarks, Leiter referenced a recent op-ed published by Emirati envoy to Washington Yousef Otaiba, in which he wrote that “a simple ceasefire [with Iran] isn’t enough” and called for a “conclusive outcome that addresses Iran’s full range of threats: nuclear capabilities, missiles, drones, terror proxies and blockades of international sea lanes.”

Leiter said Otaiba was “very clear” about the desired war objectives and that “this isn’t going to end even if at some point the US says, we’ve done our job. We’ve taken out all the production sites. We’ve destroyed them militarily, and now we’re wrapping up.”

The Israeli diplomat said Iran has been “put on notice” by this rhetoric, “because Israel and her allies will continue to act. This could really make the difference going into the future.”