Netanyahu sees possible regime change in Iran

WASHINGTON: Regime change in Iran could be a result of Israel’s military attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on Sunday.

Netanyahu, speaking to Fox’s Bret Baier on his “Special Report” programme in one of his first interviews since Israel’s attacks on Iran began on Friday, said he had informed US President Donald Trump ahead of the attacks.

His statement is in line with an earlier statement by Trump who had said on Friday that he and his team knew everything about Israel’s plan to attack Iran.

PLAN TO KILL KHAMENEI VETOED

When asked about the reports that US President Donald Trump had vetoed the Israeli plan to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, his response was, “I’m not going to get into that.”

Also on Sunday, two US officials told Reuters that Trump vetoed an Israeli plan in recent days to kill Khamenei.

“Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do we’re not even talking about going after the political leadership,” said one of the sources, a senior US administration official.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said top U.S. officials have been in constant communications with Israeli officials in the days since Israel launched a massive attack on Iran in a bid to halt its nuclear programme.

AMERICAN PILOTS

On the other hand, Netanyahu also said that the “American pilots are shooting down drones heading towards Israel.

This revelation contradicts the US stance that it has nothing to do with the Israeli military campaign against Iran.

In this connection, the Iranian leaders have already stated that the US deceived them by insisting that there would be no military strikes on Iran.

Also on Sunday, Trump gave two totally contradictory statements – one on social media and the other in an interview to ABC News.

Read more: Trump talks ‘war and peace’ about the Israel-Iran war

On social media, he predicted a peace deal between the two countries, but he, in the case of the ABC News interview, did not rule out the possibility of the US joining the conflict in Israel’s favour.