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A week after Israel launched its attacks on Iran, there are no signs of cracks or instability within the Iranian regime, three Israeli officials told The Jerusalem Post on Friday.
"There are currently no indications that the central government in Tehran is losing control. The Iranian regime appears to be tightening its grip," the three officials said.
Dr. Raz Zimmt, director of the Iran Program at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), is not surprised. “It’s not surprising that there are no visible cracks,” he told the Washington Post.
"Most Iranians are hostile to the regime and oppose it, but for now there is a sense of national solidarity. Right now, people are focused on one thing: survival."
"When they see Israeli attacks that cause casualties and destruction, even if the regime is unpopular, the immediate threat is seen as Israel. That's why people are rallying around the flag. I emphasize not about the regime, but most of their anger is currently directed against Israel," he said.
One of Israel's goals is to destabilize the Iranian government.
While overthrowing the ayatollahs' regime is not an official Israeli objective in this conflict, senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, have recently stated that one of Israel's goals is to destabilize the government in Tehran.
In recent days, Israel has also struck targets described by officials as “in service of the Iranian regime.” Among the targets were police headquarters, state television and radio stations, the Interior Ministry, and the Intelligence and Defense ministries.
On Friday, Katz announced that Israel would begin targeting the facilities of the Basij militia, a paramilitary force under Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that is used to suppress domestic protests.
“I have instructed the military to intensify attacks on regime targets in Tehran with the aim of destabilizing the regime and increasing deterrence in response to rocket fire on Israeli cities,” Katz said after a meeting with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and other senior officials.
“We must strike all symbols of power and the regime’s mechanisms for suppressing the population, and we must also force the evacuation of large segments of Tehran’s civilian population all to undermine the regime.”
Despite the fact that the Iranian regime currently appears to be consolidating power, Dr. Zimmt says he remains optimistic that in the medium to long term, once the war is over, the Iranian public will begin to question how the country got to this point, and their frustration will be turned against the regime.
“As long as the war continues, you can weaken the regime – damage command and control centers, destroy headquarters, eliminate intelligence figures, and over time, this can undermine the regime’s centers of power,” Dr. Zimmt explained.
“This is important because once the balance of power between the regime’s critics and the regime itself shifts, there will be a real chance for change. A mass protest movement confronting a vulnerable regime—a regime less willing or able to defend itself—could emerge after the war.”
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