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An Israeli official tells Fox News Digital that the U.S.-Israeli mission in Iran has two main goals that may provide an opportunity to change the course of the future of the Middle East as their military forces continue to pummel the Iranian regime.
Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli said in an interview on Monday that the first of the two goals is to remove existential threats such as Iran’s ballistic missiles that were rapidly being repaired following last year’s Operation Midnight Hammer, which targeted key Iranian nuclear sites.
Chikli said these missiles are “capable of sending these missiles into the heart of our cities, into hospitals,” and must be destroyed.
Of Iran’s nuclear program, he added that there are “still components that need to be removed.”
A plume of smoke rises after a strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohsen Ganji)
The second goal of the mission is to create conditions to change the regime in Iran, Chikli said.
“We are well aware of the fact that not the IDF and not the U.S. Army is going to replace the regime in Iran,” he said. “It’s up to the Iranian people who have now the biggest opportunity in the last 40-plus years since the beginning of the revolution to do something in order to create a different reality in Iran and regain their freedom.”
A state TV communications tower and building destroyed Sunday during a strike as part of the ongoing joint U.S.–Israeli military campaign are seen in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
President Donald Trump on Saturday encouraged the Iranian people to take over their government once the U.S. and Israel finished combat operations in Iran, telling them to “seize control of [their] destiny.”
DOZENS OF TOP IRANIAN REGIME OFFICIALS, SUPREME LEADER KILLED IN ISRAELI STRIKES
“The hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered. Don’t leave your home. It’s very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take,” Trump said. “This will be, probably, your only chance for generations.”
Plumes of smoke from two simultaneous strikes rise over Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohsen Ganji)
A U.S. senior official previously confirmed to Fox News that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was among five to 10 top leaders killed after an Israeli strike in Tehran as part of “Operation Epic Fury.”
Chikli discussed a situation where Iran can be aligned with “the West, with freedom, with human dignity,” adding that “we need to push forward to achieve this kind of change in Iran.”
“Iran is a major state with a lot of resources, and it can be an ally,” he said. “An ally of Israel, it can be an ally of the U.S., it can be an ally of the UAE, it can be an ally of Kuwait and every moderate regime in the region.”
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Iran’s retaliation against the American and Israeli attacks has been focused on Israel and U.S. assets in the Middle East, including in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan.
Iran’s actions prompted many Arab countries to condemn the regime’s strikes and affirm solidarity with one another.
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