A joint American-Israeli plan to collapse Iran’s leadership within days of a surprise Israeli attack last month failed and only alienated the public, Iranian presidential aide Ali Rabiei said.
“According to the plan drawn by Israel and the United States, the regime was supposed to fall by the ninth or tenth day of the war,” Rabiei, a veteran of the intelligence ministry and a former cabinet minister, told local media.
“When Trump told the people of Tehran to leave the city, it was clear something was meant to happen—but it failed.”
The 12-day campaign assassinated Iranian military commanders and pounded military targets but killed hundreds of civilians. A US attack on Iranian nuclear sites capped off the conflict. Iranian missiles killed 27 Israelis.
Both US President Donald and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mooted regime change and killing Iran's Supreme Leader during the conflict.
Tehran officialdom swiftly declared the conflict a victory, in a narrative which jarred many war-weary Iranians.
Netanyahu said the conflict reversed Iran’s nuclear progress and set the stage for internal political collapse.
“We hit them right on the nose, in the groin,” he told US network Newsmax in an interview on Thursday. “It creates a possibility inside Iran, because the people who are being tyrannized now say they have hope.”
But Rabiei said Iran’s population had only grown more embittered.
“The day Evin prison was bombed—a surreal scene in which women prisoners, medics and soldiers were killed—they expected protests,” he said, referring to an Israeli air strike on a notorious prison which killed dozens of people. “Instead, people were consumed with hatred for Israel.”
“No country is better off after regime change following a war. Israel does not care what happens to Iran afterward—it just wants Iran not to be strong,” he added.
A fragile ceasefire remains in place between Iran and Israel after Trump said US attacks had “obliterated" Iran’s nuclear program.
