Israel pursuing 'decapitation' of Iran's nuclear capabilities and military, scientific leadership

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00:00Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is changing the face of the Middle East with

00:04its military campaign against Iran. He also hasn't ruled out killing Iranian Supreme Leader

00:09Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying that his death would end the conflict. Take a listen.

00:16We've eliminated Iran's security leadership, including three chiefs of staff, the commander

00:20of their air force, two heads of intelligence services, two of which were killed yesterday,

00:25the army and the Revolutionary Guards. We've struck their chief of operations. We're eliminating them

00:32one after one, and our hands can still reach further. We're changing, as I said on the first

00:41day of the war, we're changing the face of the Middle East, and this can bring radical changes

00:46in Iran itself. Iranians understand the regime is much weaker than they thought. They realize it,

00:53and that could lead to results.

00:57Well, for more on this story, we're joined by Yoram Schweitzer, former intelligence officer and

01:02current head of the Institute for National Security Studies program on terrorism and low-intensity

01:07conflict. Thank you very much for speaking to us on France 24. We've just heard then from Netanyahu

01:14praising this kind of one-by-one killing of Iran's top military officials. Israel's had a long history

01:20of this kind of strategy. Can you tell us about that?

01:25I'm not sure that what the prime minister implied or stated that Israel is going for the head of

01:32Khamenei. I think that Israel, as part of a whole strategy against Iran, which attacked Israel twice

01:40this year, decided to preempt the Iranian approach closely to manufacturing atomic bombs. And thus,

01:52Israel started this preemption and had a strategy that part of it is decapitization of the heads of the

02:02army, revolutionary guards, and the pillars of knowledge of the scientists.

02:08But do you think that this strategy really works to deter Israel's rivals? I mean, whether it's

02:14Hamas or Hezbollah, when a top official is killed, another one takes his place. So what kind of damage

02:21is this doing?

02:24Again, this is not the only or the exclusive or the superior aim of this strategy. It's part of it.

02:31And as part of it, it may be effective. I think that in this case of Iran, which is a country,

02:36it's not a terror organization. It's a country that sponsored terrorism, that imposed terrorism,

02:43addressed terrorism against Israeli civilians. It is part of it. And the fact that these senior

02:50military leaders are not there, it may be effective. It's not a final solution for the problem that we

02:57have. So what do you think there is to say then about Netanyahu saying that he won't rule out

03:03going after Ali Khamenei? I think it's part of the warning. It's not. I'm not sure that it is

03:11a direction, a directive from the prime minister. I don't think it's a top priority. It may happen

03:18if the Iranians are going to escalate massively. They have escalated already. They escalated in

03:24October. They escalated in April last year. And now they, after they produced this belt of fire

03:34over Israel that was eliminated or at least defunct in the last year and a half. And I think it's part

03:41of a warning. I don't think it's a primary strategy of Israel. And how significant are these strikes on

03:49Iranian infrastructure? I mean, Israel says it's destroying missile launches and other military

03:54targets. But Iranians are continuing to launch air attacks. Are they significantly weakened?

04:01I think they are weakened. We don't know yet what is the impact, the true impact and the comprehensive

04:07impact. It definitely is part of the strategy that Israel decided to take because of the Iranian

04:14closeness, proximity to manufacturing atomic bomb. And I think this Israel, after the warning it gave

04:22to Iran and to others, and this is why it has been justified by the Europeans, by the Americans,

04:29that Israel has reached the point where it should have launched this preemption. Part of it, again,

04:35is the capitation of capabilities, of leaders, of scientists. Again, we are in all-out war against

04:43Iran because Iran started it. And there's speculation around now how Washington might get involved or if

04:49it will at all. What's your feeling on this issue? I don't know. Trump is not very open to what his

05:01planning or what the planning of his are. But it may reach a point, because the Iranians, up till now,

05:08at least at this point, which we know of in the public domain, has not been ready to negotiate in sincere

05:16way. They basically rejected the Americans' offer to negotiate. And we'll have to see whether the Americans

05:24decide that the threat to the U.S. and to the Western world, because of the Iranian intentions to go for

05:32a nuclear weapon, which is not acceptable, neither on the Americans nor on the Europeans. It depends how

05:39it's going to take it to the next level. And it also depends on the Iranians, whether the Iranians are going

05:44to come to the table or to negotiate, eliminating the nuclear program.

05:52And it's quite impressive to see these kinds of, when you look at the Israeli strikes,

05:56for example, on Iran, but also elsewhere, kinds of segments of a residential building being taken

06:02out, very precise strikes, obviously not asking in a certain military or technical sense. But how does

06:09Israel go about that? It obviously means months of surveillance and things like that.

06:16Israel is not going after civilians as such, unlike the Iranians. The Iranians are going for

06:22civilian facilities. The Israelis have attacked Iran sites where military commanders are residing

06:33or hiding or the headquarters are. I don't think that Israel is going intentionally

06:38on purpose on civilian targets in Iran. We haven't reached this level. And if the Iranians continue

06:44to go after civilians, Israel may signal. But I don't think that Israel is looking for any civilian targets

06:50because it doesn't serve its interests. All right, Juran Schweitzer, we'll have to leave it there.

06:55Thank you very much for your time. Thank you.

06:59Thank you very much.

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