Iran International
After weeks of increasingly devastating blows meted out by Israel against Iran's armed allies in the region, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday directly addressed the Iranian people to predict the nigh downfall of their rulers.
Stopping short of pledging any direct action by the Jewish state itself, Netanyahu said the Iranian theocratic system that his country was confronting would soon end.
The 3-minute speech delivered in English and posted on X came days after Israeli air strikes killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, capping off nearly two weeks of bombings and aerial bombardments which have decapitated the Iran-backed group's leadership.
"When Iran is finally free and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think – everything will be different," Netanyahu said.
"Our two countries, Israel and Iran, will be at peace. When that day comes, the terror network that the regime built in five continents will be bankrupt, dismantled.
Netanyahu said that there was nowhere in the Middle East beyond Israel's reach, a message underscored by Israeli air attacks in Gaza, Yemen and Lebanon over the weekend.
Both Iranian and Israeli leaders have appeared to hold off from any clear pledge of direct confrontation despite the latest uptick in violence.
The response from some in the Iranian diaspora and activist community has been positive, with many sharing Netanyahu's sentiments on Iran.
"Israel and free Iran will reunite as the great allies in the Middle East again", Iranian-American activist Nick Nikbakht posted to X.
Gazelle Sharmahd, the daughter of Jamshid Sharmahd, a German-American national of Iranian descent who was kidnapped for his activism from the United Arab Emirates in 2020 by Iranian agents, thanked the Prime Minister as the "only leader of a nation who directly addresses the people of Iran."
"We agree with everything you said EXCEPT for 1 point: Those khomeinist tyrants are NOT the “leaders of Iran”!!!!" Sharmahd posted to X.
Ellie Cohanim, a former Deputy Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism during the Donald Trump administration, told Iran International that Netanyahu's speech demonstrated that Israelis and Iranians have one foe.
“(The) historic address to speak directly to the Iranian people is meant to clearly communicate to Iranians that they and Israel share a common enemy—the Islamic Republic Regime. And also to let Iranian people know that any military events and conflict are between the Regime and Israel; and not between Israel and the Iranian people.”
This was not the Israeli Prime Minister's first time addressing the people of Iran.
During an earlier premiership he spoke directly to Iranians in a 2013 an interview with BBC Persian, saying, "I would welcome a genuine rapprochement, a genuine effort to stop the nuclear program - not a fake one. Not 'harfe pooch,'" deploying a colloquial Persian phrase meaning "empty words."
Still, he was mocked for comments he made about Iranians not being able to wear jeans in the country, which some critics said showed ignorance of the way Iranians actually live.
Israel's military has long been using the social media channel IDF Farsi to speak directly to people in Iran and circumvent authorities' censorship, gaining access to tens of millions of Iranians online.
“We wanted to build a bridge to the Iranian people," Beni Sabti, the driving force behind the account, told Iran International in a previous interview.
