Barnea said to have presented assessment that if the Iranian government were decapitated, and its institutions and means of repression seriously weakened, system could fall
Mossad head David Barnea, in meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government prior to the US-Israeli attack that started the ongoing war with Iran, assessed that it would be possible to topple the Iranian regime, Channel 12 reported Thursday.The TV network, citing multiple unnamed sources, said that Barnea told the political echelon that if the military goals of the operation were achieved – decapitation of the leadership, as well as serious harm to regime institutions and its capacity to repress its own citizens – then the Mossad and the CIA would know how to ensure that Iranians would again take to the streets, and to find an alternative to the regime.
“Mossad chief told PM before war that he thought Iran’s regime could be toppled”
The report stressed that the Mossad chief provided disclaimers and qualifications, and noted both that the situation was developing and that achieving the desired ends could take a long time.Promoted: The Jaffa Institute: Providing war relief to Israelis in needKeep Watching
Both Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump addressed the Iranian people when announcing the start of the military campaign, and indicated that the operation could set the conditions for the fall of the regime.
Both said, however, that it would be incumbent upon the Iranians themselves to seize the opportunity.
In the subsequent three weeks, the US and Israel have avoided committing to regime change, focusing instead on the security threat posed by the Islamic Republic’s military capabilities, particularly its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
On Thursday, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said the US intelligence community “assesses that the regime in Iran appears to be intact, but largely degraded.” She also assessed that if the regime survives, it will likely try to rebuild its military capabilities.Also Thursday, in his first English-language press conference since the start of the war, Netanyahu defined the war’s three goals as ending the nuclear threat, ending the ballistic missile threat, and “creating the conditions for the Iranian people to grasp their freedom, to control their destiny.”
Later, responding to a question, the premier said there were “a lot of signs” that the regime was “cracking,” but declined to assert it would collapse.“I can tell you that we’re working to create the conditions for it to collapse, but it may survive, it may not. If it survives, it’ll be a lot weaker,” he said.
The premier also said that while a regime cannot be toppled only from the air, without a ground component, “There are many possibilities for this ground component, and I take the liberty of not sharing with you all those possibilities.”Netanyahu also praised the Iranian people for their bravery.
Tehran has acknowledged that more than 3,000 people died during the anti-regime unrest in December and January.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), however, has recorded more than 7,000 killings, the vast majority of them protesters, while warning the toll could be far higher. Trump has claimed the number is more than 35,000
Times of Israel
