Latest news with #IranRegime
Fox News
17 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Exiled crown prince says Iranian people have 'tremendous opportunity' to topple weakened regime
The Iranian regime is weaker now than ever, and it's only a "matter of time" before it's toppled, exiled crown prince HRH Reza Pahlavi said Sunday on Fox News. Speaking on "Sunday Morning Futures," Pahlavi said the people of Iran are exactly the "boots on the ground" needed to overthrow the terrorism-sponsoring regime that has been in place for decades, and they now have a "tremendous opportunity" to make it happen. "It is not a matter of if, but a matter of when…" he told Maria Bartiromo, responding to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim that Iranian senior leaders are "packing their bags" in light of his country's military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, military infrastructure and more. "The last time we spoke, I mentioned that the regime is at its weakest. As of the last three days, the regime was ten times weaker than it was two weeks ago," he added. At this stage, Pahlavi said, the Iranian people realize the "playing field" has been more equalized for them to take action and put power back into their own hands — but they need support from the outside world. "What they need… is solidarity from the free world to, once and for all, get rid of the problem, help Iranians overcome this regime and put an end to all the threats that this regime has been the root cause of for decades now in the region and beyond." Pahlavi warned the free world that eliminating the regime is the only way to secure a better tomorrow, thereby abolishing the threat of nuclear terror, reducing the stress of global economic instability and lessening the loss of innocent victims. "The Iranian people are willing to do their part. In fact, they've done this so many times with no help whatsoever, but they're willing to risk life and limb in order to finally overcome [this regime]," he said. "Last night, people on the streets were angry, chanting death to the dictator yet again. They know who the enemy is. The regime has been giving them the slogans of 'death to America' and 'death to Israel' for the past four decades, and Iranians have been responding, 'They lie to us when they say it's America. Our enemy is right here,' meaning the regime." "Fortunately, I see that more and more people, public opinion, media [outlets] and foreign governments, are finally making a clear distinction between the people of Iran and the regime, and that's key. That tells you right there that the solution is in front of your eyes. The Iranian people are your solution. Not negotiating with a regime that cannot be trusted."
Reuters
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Netanyahu says regime change in Iran could be result of Israel's attacks
WASHINGTON, June 15 (Reuters) - Regime change in Iran could be a result of Israel's military attacks on the country, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on Sunday, saying Israel would do whatever is necessary to remove the "existential threat" posed by Tehran. Israel launched "Operation Rising Lion" with a surprise attack on Friday morning that wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command and damaged its nuclear sites, and says the campaign will continue to escalate in coming days. Iran has vowed to "open the gates of hell" in retaliation. Israel's military has said the current goal of the campaign is not a change in regime, but the dismantling of Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Asked by Fox's Bret Baier on his "Special Report" program if regime change was part of Israel's military effort, Netanyahu said: "Could certainly be the result because the Iran regime is very weak." "We're geared to do whatever is necessary to achieve our dual aim, to remove ... two existential threats - the nuclear threat and the ballistic missile threat," Netanyahu said in one of his first interviews since Israel's attacks began. "We did act - to save ourselves, but also, I think, to not only protect ourselves, but protect the world from this incendiary regime. We can't have the world's most dangerous regime have the world's most dangerous weapons," he said. Israel has said its operation could last weeks, and Netanyahu has openly urged the Iranian people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers. Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday, killing scores and raising fears of a wider conflict, as U.S. President Donald Trump said it could be ended easily while warning Tehran not to strike any U.S. targets. Asked about a Reuters report that Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Netanyahu said: "I'm not going to get into that." But he said he had informed Trump ahead of Friday's military action. American pilots are shooting down Iranian drones headed toward Israel, he said. With worries growing of a regional conflagration, Trump has lauded Israel's offensive while denying Iranian allegations that the U.S. has taken part in it. He warned Tehran not to widen its retaliation to include U.S. targets or else face the "full strength and might" of the U.S. armed forces. Trump has repeatedly said Iran could end the war by agreeing to tough restrictions on its nuclear program, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes but Western countries say could be used to make a bomb. The latest round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States, due to be held on Sunday, was scrapped after Tehran said it would not negotiate while under Israeli attack.
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Netanyahu's Big Gamble Risks a Quicker Iranian Bomb
There are three immediate questions to answer about the war that Israel has started with Iran, all of which lead to the most important of all: Can this achieve Israel's stated goal of ensuring, once and for all, that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon? If it can, then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to launch Israeli jets against a much larger nation of close to 90 million people would, depending on the nature of the targets struck and level of civilian casualties, be justified on both strategic and moral grounds. The destruction of Israel is a declared policy of the regime in Tehran and one it's been acting on for decades. There's no doubt, despite denials, that Iran's uranium enrichment program is designed to produce weapons-grade fuel; it's practically there, with a growing stockpile concentrated to 60%, a level far beyond any conceivable civilian use. So, even though Israel has a nuclear deterrent of its own, as a tiny 'one-bomb' country it can't take the risk of allowing such a hostile power to also have one. But whether the air strikes can indeed succeed is a very big 'if.' It's more likely that Israel can do no more than delay Iran's nuclear program by a few years. And if that's the case, it becomes impossible to justify the certain bloodshed and unknowable consequences of starting this war, because it would at best gain no more than the diplomacy it displaced. Both the abandoned 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran and any agreement that might realistically have come out of US-Iranian talks that were due to resume on Sunday would do as much — only without loss of life, or the risk to regional stability and global markets. So, in trying to unpick what Israel's military action can achieve, the first of my three questions is: Why now? Netanyahu has for years been trying to persuade the US to help him take out Iranian nuclear fuel enrichment sites. Yet he chose the early hours of Friday morning to go it alone. One clear reason is that Iranian air defenses have been severely degraded over the past year. So, too, has the potential for retaliation that Iran built up over decades by arming both Hezbollah, in Lebanon, and Hamas, in Gaza, with missiles. Those changes in the strategic environment have created a window to attack at much lower risk to both the Jewish state and its pilots than in the past. And it's an opportunity that won't, as Netanyahu has correctly said, last forever. A second reason is equally clear and much more disturbing: The personal political interests of the Israeli prime minister. The belief that Netanyahu has been dragging out and expanding the war in Gaza for selfish reasons is now widely held within Israel, let alone outside. Conflict keeps him in power by avoiding a government collapse. It also puts off an inevitable post-war inquiry into the extraordinary failures of security and policy that allowed Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist rampage to succeed on his watch. It's unlikely to be a coincidence that Netanyahu's decision to attack has come just days after he and his cabinet narrowly survived a vote of no-confidence in the Knesset, and at a time when the broad popular support he once enjoyed for continuing the fight in Gaza has evaporated. A conflict with Iran promises to again rally Israelis around the flag in ways that his policies in Gaza no longer do. Motives matter. They can drive decisions that otherwise wouldn't be made. Another vital question is whether Netanyahu's plan for success in the war he's started is predicated on drawing in the US. I don't have access to classified information, or a direct line to the Israeli prime minister's calculations. But the consensus among military analysts has long been that Israel can do only limited damage on its own; to succeed, it needs the 15-ton bunker-buster bombs that only America has. These weapons are thought essential because Iran's most advanced centrifuge cascades for enriching uranium are buried 60 to 90 meters (197 to 295 feet) under a mountain at Fordow, about an hour's drive south of Qom, home to the Islamic Republic's most important seminaries. Iran has been building an even deeper facility to replace the surface one at Natanz, an hour further south. We know from the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the Vienna-based IAEA, that neither Fordow nor an above-ground Iranian nuclear center at Isfahan were among the 100 initial targets attacked by 200 Israeli jets on Friday. Nor was there any sign of radiation leaks at the Bushehr nuclear power plant or the largest enrichment site, at Natanz. This makes sense. The first priority for any complex bombing campaign would be to neutralize air defenses and reduce Iranian options for retaliation, by hitting missile bases and the commanders who would coordinate their use. The primary targets should come later. Whether Donald Trump allows the US to become the proverbial dog wagged by an Israeli tail may well now rely on Netanyahu's biggest gamble of all, which concerns the third question: How will Ayatollah Ali Khamenei choose — or be able — to respond. As of Friday morning, Iran's Supreme Leader had authorized the launch of about 100 long-range drones against Israel, most if not all of which appear to have been shot down. In a statement, Khamenei pledged revenge against the Jewish State, both now and over a long future, so there's more to come. He didn't, however, mention the US. That was in stark contrast to Iranian warnings before the attack, which had pledged to hit America's personnel and Arab allies in the Gulf should any attack occur. Khamenei no doubt understands that any such action would draw US forces into the fight. So too would a retaliation against Israel that targets civilian centers. So, whether through caution or lack of capacity to do more by conventional military means, Khamenei may not force Trump to involve US forces. That risks leaving Israel to conduct a weeks-long campaign of air strikes against hardened uranium enrichment sites that may not succeed. Out of the same caution, Khamenei may also avoid any dramatic public gesture such as declaring Iran's withdrawal from the 1968 nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Either way, the stakes are now extraordinarily high and the outcome for Israel is uncertain. Iran already announced an acceleration to its enrichment program in response to a mere vote of censure by the IAEA last week. So it seems probable that, rather than back down, the regime in Tehran will now seek to build a nuclear arsenal as fast as it can. The risk to Netanyahu is that Khamenei can walk this tightrope between hitting back hard enough that he isn't damaged at home by appearing weak, but not so hard as to draw in the US and its bunker-busting bombs. If he can pull that off, then Israel's attack risks spectacular blowback, even while showing its continued technological and military superiority. Rather than destroy or even delay Iran's emergence as a nuclear power, this war of choice risks bringing it closer.
USA Today
09-03-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Iran will not negotiate under US 'bullying', Supreme Leader says
Iran will not negotiate under US 'bullying', Supreme Leader says Show Caption Hide Caption Explosions spotted in the sky as Iran launches drones against Israel Iran launched a drone attack against Israel amid soaring Mideast tensions. Officials said there were no reported deaths as of Saturday. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that Iran will not be bullied into negotiations, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had sent a letter to the country's top authority urging Tehran to negotiate a nuclear deal. In an interview with Fox Business, Trump said, "There are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal" to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. At a meeting with senior Iranian officials, Khamenei said Washington's aim was to "impose their own expectations," Iranian state media reported. "The insistence of some bullying governments on negotiations is not to resolve issues. ... Talks for them is a pathway to have new demands, it is not only about Iran's nuclear issue. ... Iran will definitely not accept their expectations," Khamenei was quoted as saying, without directly mentioning Trump. In response to Khamenei's comments, White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes reiterated almost word for word the choice of negotiations or military action that Trump said he had presented to Iran. "We hope the Iran Regime puts its people and best interests ahead of terror," Hughes said in a statement. While expressing openness to a deal with Tehran, Trump has reinstated a "maximum pressure" campaign that was applied during his first term as president to isolate Iran from the global economy and drive its oil exports to zero. During his 2017-2021 term, Trump withdrew the United States from a landmark deal between Iran and major powers that had placed strict limits on Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. After Trump pulled out in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions, Iran breached and far surpassed those limits. U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi has said that time is running out for diplomacy to impose new restrictions on Iran's activities, as Tehran continues to accelerate its enrichment of uranium to near weapons-grade. Tehran says its nuclear work is solely for peaceful purposes. Khamenei, who has the last say on Iran's key policies, said there was "no other way to stand against coercion and bullying". "They are bringing up new demands that certainly will not be accepted by Iran, like our defence capabilities, missile range and international influence," he was quoted as saying. Although Tehran says its ballistic missile programme is purely defensive, it is seen in the West as a destabilising factor in a volatile, conflict-ridden Middle East. Tehran has in recent months announced new additions to its conventional weaponry, such as its first drone carrier and an underground naval base amid rising tensions with the U.S. and Israel. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi; additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Sharon Singleton, Timothy Heritage and Leslie Adler)
