Israel must prepare for another round of confrontation with Iran and ensure that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei will be killed in the next campaign, former defense minister Yoav Gallant said on Saturday, over two months after the archenemies' 12-day war.
“Although Khamenei was not eliminated in this round, his elimination must be part of any plan of the State of Israel if a campaign against us is launched,” Gallant said in an interview with Israeli Channel 12's Meet the Press.
He added that Iran will rebuild some of its strength, particularly its ballistic missile arsenal, and that Israel must be ready for a different war.
Israel launched a 12-day air campaign against Iran in June, striking nuclear facilities and killing senior military officials and scientists. The Israeli military said the operation crippled much of Iran’s air defense system and damaged its missile capabilities.
“The main thing that is not talked about is that the Iranians do not understand how we penetrated them in terms of intelligence, and they do not know what we know,” said Gallant.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump both mooted killing Khamenei at the height of the conflict and Trump hinted at favoring Iranian regime change.
"It’s not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social in late June.
After disappearing from public view for three weeks, Khamenei reappeared and resumed his hardline rhetoric.
“Today our enemy, the one standing against us — the Zionist regime — is the most despised government in the world,” said Khamenei in a speech last week.
Khamenei added that enemies had underestimated Iran’s resilience and wrongly believed attacks would separate the people from the state.
