Israeli Ambassador Says Israel Wants to See ‘Regime Change’ in Iran

The comments come as Israel is threatening to attack Iran

Israel’s Ambassador to the US and UN Gilad Erdan said Friday that Israel would ultimately like to see regime change in Iran.

“In the end, we would ultimately like to see [the government] overthrown and [for there to be] regime change,” Erdan told Israel’s Army Radio when asked about his government’s Iran policy.

It’s no secret Israel is hostile to the Iranian government, but Israeli officials have previously avoided such explicit calls for regime change. What Erdan said was interpreted by The Times of Israel as “one of the most far-reaching comments by an Israeli official in favor of regime change in Tehran.”

Erdan said he was working to rally the world against Iran. “We would like to see actions that are much more determined from the international community against Iran,’ he said. “We hope the international community will draw this conclusion as soon as possible because we need to put an end to this murderousness.”

Erdan’s comments come after a week of almost daily threats from Israeli officials that they might take military action against Iran over a deadly attack on the Mercer Street, an Israeli-linked ship that was hit by a drone last week. The attack killed two crew members; a British national and a Romanian.

Israel, the US, and now the G7 have all blamed Iran for the Mercer Street attack, but Tehran maintains its innocence. On Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Israel was prepared to attack Iran and urged that other countries also take action. “We are at a point where we need to take military action against Iran. The world needs to take action against Iran now,” he said.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.