Israel, US draft strategy for Iran after regime’s collapse – report

As US and Israel ramp up military pressure on the Islamic Republic, the two countries are secretly drafting a plan for navigating the regime’s collapse.

By World Israel News Staff

The United States and Israel have begun drafting a secret post-war strategy for Iran, Israel Hayom reported on Tuesday.

Citing an unnamed source familiar with the details, the report said that the US and Israel are concurrently planning how to facilitate the toppling of the Islamic Republic by Iranian dissidents and how to navigate Iranian policy following regime change.

Both countries expect Iranian opponents of the regime to overthrow the regime, though it remains unclear which elements of Iranian society would lead the toppling of the government.

One issue being addressed in the planning is the question of how the US and Israel can encourage factions from within the Persian majority to lead the overthrow of the regime and to establish an alternative leadership, without relying too heavily on ethnic minority groups, like the Kurds and Azeris, who live primarily on the geographical fringes of the country.

Thus far, both the US and Israel have not called on Iranian dissidents to take to the streets.

On February 28, the first day of the joint US-Israel air campaign, President Donald Trump urged opponents of the regime to “take shelter” and to “stay at home” to avoid the airstrikes.

At some later date, however, Trump said the Iranian people should “take over your government.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made similar calls, telling Iranians that the “moment of truth is approaching,” while cautioning them not to make their move yet.

Neither the US nor Israel believe the air war itself will be sufficient to topple the regime.

Rather, military planners hope that the dual air campaigns will succeed in weakening the Islamic Republic enough to enable dissident forces, emboldened by the strikes, to take power.