Netanyahu: Israel's goal is to overthrow the Iranian leadership

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that overthrowing the Iranian leadership is an explicit goal of the Israeli security forces.

Netanyahu said at a graduation ceremony for a batch of officers: “There is only one way to remove this threat once and for all: to overthrow the regime in Iran. These are my directives to the Israeli army, the Mossad, and the security services.”

Netanyahu referred to the Iranian leader, saying: “The regime in Iran has not learned its lesson yet. Mojtaba Khamenei, the tyrant of the era, has decided to follow in his father’s footsteps.”

Netanyahu said that as long as Iran seeks to destroy Israel, there will remain an existential threat.

The Israeli Prime Minister said that US President Donald Trump, whom Netanyahu described as his “close friend,” shares this opinion.

He added that they would cut off the "octopus' head" as well as its arms, referring to Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

This comes as dozens of Israeli Air Force fighters carried out, on Monday, a large-scale air sortie that reached close to the Iranian border, in an operation that American and Israeli officials described as aiming to display force and deter Tehran, amid fears that it would lead to a military miscalculation that would lead to an Iranian response and renewed war.

According to a report published by the Axios website, the operation took place at a distance of more than 1,287 kilometers from Israel, a week before the Israeli elections scheduled for October 27, and on the same day that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Netanyahu at the Uvda Air Base in Israel, without the flight being linked to the US minister’s visit.

Israeli and American officials said that the operation was not exceptional, and that its goal was to deter Iran, but the move entailed the risk of escalation, as it could have led to an Iranian response that would reignite the military confrontation.