US, Israel targeting Iran regime forces involved in crackdown to enable protest renewal — officials

The US and Israel, in their ongoing airstrikes throughout Iran, are targeting members of the regime’s forces that took part in the crackdown on anti-government protesters earlier this year, hoping to make it easier for demonstrators to return to the streets once the bombing subsides, a US official and an Israeli official tell The Times of Israel.

“When we said that we’re trying to create the conditions for regime change, these are the kinds of things that we’re referring to,” an Israeli official says.

In announcing the launch of Operation Epic Fury on Saturday, US President Donald Trump called on Iranian freedom-seekers to take over their government once the bombing subsides.

In the days that followed, though, Washington has clarified that it views the fall of the government as merely a potential byproduct of the operation, while the stated aims are limited to destroying Iran’s missile program, destroying its navy, preventing it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ceasing its support for proxy militias.

Still, the US official confirms that regime forces involved in the crackdown — such as the Basij voluntary paramilitary offshoot of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — are among those that American and Israeli forces are targeting.