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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that regime change in Iran “could certainly be the result” of Israel’s ongoing military operations against Iranian targets.
Speaking to Fox News’ Bret Baier on Special Report, Netanyahu responded to a question about the objective of the strikes that began early Friday.
“Is regime change part of the effort here?” Baier asked.
“It could certainly be the result because the Iran regime is very weak,” Netanyahu replied, claiming Israel had targeted and killed the chief intelligence officer of IRGC and his deputy in Tehran.
Netanyahu said Israel is prepared to take whatever steps are necessary to eliminate what he called “two existential threats” — referring to Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities.
“We did act — to save ourselves, but also, I think, to not only protect ourselves, but protect the world from this incendiary regime,” he said. “We can’t have the world’s most dangerous regime have the world’s most dangerous weapons.”
The conflict erupted early Friday (June 13) when Israel launched airstrikes on Iranian military and nuclear sites, killing several senior commanders and scientists. Iran responded with retaliatory missile attacks, and Israeli operations have continued.
Israeli authorities said at least 13 people have been killed and more than 370 injured in Iranian missile attacks since Friday.
Iranian officials reported at least 78 killed on the first day of Israel’s assault, with additional casualties—including children—on the second day of strikes..
Netanyahu added that Israel “will not have a second Holocaust, a nuclear holocaust. We already had one in the previous century.”
Since early Friday, Israel has conducted a series of strikes on Iranian territory, hitting nuclear and missile facilities and killing senior military officials and scientists. The strikes have also targeted oil and gas infrastructure. Iran has responded with missile attacks on multiple locations in Israel.
Netanyahu said Israel had informed U.S. President Donald Trump about the operation in advance and that the two nations remain “fully coordinated.”
“I deeply appreciate President Trump’s decision to help with the defense of Israel,” he said. “American pilots are shooting down drones that are headed towards Israel, as do our pilots. American THAAD missile batteries are helping defend Tel Aviv and the greater Tel Aviv area.”
Asked about reports that Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Netanyahu responded: “Actually, there are so many false reports of conversations that never happened, and I’m not going to get into that.”"
Netanyahu also alleged that Iran was responsible for two assassination attempts against Trump in 2024.
“Through proxies, yes,” he said, when asked whether intelligence indicated that the assassination attempts on Trump were directed by Iran.
“They want to kill him. He’s enemy number one,” Netanyahu said. “He’s a decisive leader. He never took the path that others took to try to bargain with them in a way that is weak, giving them basically a pathway to enrich uranium, which means a pathway to the bomb, padding it with billions and billions of dollars.”
He added that Trump poses a “great threat” to Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“He took up this fake agreement and basically tore it up. He killed Qasem Soleimani. He made it very clear, including now, ‘You cannot have a nuclear weapon, which means you cannot enrich uranium.’ He’s been very forceful, so for them, he’s enemy number one,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli prime minister further claimed Iran had attempted to assassinate him.
“They fired a missile into my bedroom window. They missed,” he said.
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