The United States has agreed to a proposal from Oman to host a new round of talks with Iran early next week, but Tehran has yet to give a final response, regional sources told Iran International.
"You can't establish democracy top down. It doesn't work," Yechiel Leiter said in a Washington DC town hall hosted by Iran International, when asked if Israel expected a regime change after its recent air strikes on Iran.
"We have created the backdrop. We've created the props on the stage, and hopefully they're enough for there to be capitalized upon and for change to be brought about," the Israeli ambassador told the town hall moderator Fardad Farahzad.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier told Iran International that the Israeli military campaign against Iran was giving its people a chance to topple the Islamic Republic, adding that the ruling system's days were numbered.
"A light has been lit—carry it to freedom,” Netanyahu said on June 16. “This is the time. Your hour of freedom is near—it’s happening now.”
Leiter said on Tuesday that Netanyahu spoke "with a tremendous passion and hope that the world will change and that the Iranian regime will change."
"That's a wish, but that can't be a military goal," he said. "Democracy is, in of itself, an expression of the people's will. So how can you ignore the people's will by forcing it?"
'World must join Israel'
The Israeli ambassador criticized other countries especially the Europeans for leaving the Jewish State alone in countering the Islamic Republic, saying it would be much easier for Iranian people to topple the Islamic Republic should other countries help Israel.
"Why is it that the Chancellor of Germany says 'Israel is doing the dirty work for all of us'? We're a tiny little country. Where's Germany? Where's England? England has a huge stake, huge history in your neck of the woods," Leiter said.
"They can feel an affinity for somebody who threatens an ally, like Israel. And it's not just Israel. Who created the sleeper cells in Europe? Why is there fear now in the United States, of sleeper cells? They have interfered with international waterways, with globalization, with maritime trade," he added.
Iran sent a communiqué to Trump in the days before the US air strikes on its nuclear facilities threatening to activate sleeper-cell terror inside America if it were attacked, NBC News reported on Sunday citing sources.
Eleven Iranian nationals, including a suspected former army sniper and an individual with admitted ties to Hezbollah, were arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over the weekend in what officials say is a broader crackdown on individuals with ties to Iran and potential national security risks.
The Israeli ambassador addressed the German chancellor and said, "You're absolutely right. We're doing the dirty work for the world, but it's about time that you helped us. And if they did, it would be a lot easier for the people of Iran."
"You have a minority government with its boot on the necks of, of good people, of innocent people, of tens of millions of people."
Surprises every day with Trump in office
The Israeli envoy said he was not surprised by Trump’s ceasefire proposal, as Israel’s military objectives in the war with Iran had been largely achieved by Tuesday morning when the ceasefire took effect.
He said working as a diplomat in Washington DC under President Trump feels like riding a roller coaster—with no idea when the next sharp turn is coming.
"You're on a roller coaster, and the only difference between Washington during the Trump administration and a roller coaster is that with the roller coaster, you know where the twists and turns are coming," he said.
"Here in Washington at the present time, you just don't know when the roller coaster is going to go sideways and you've got to hold on."
Trump on Monday night announced the unexpected ceasefire in the 12-day war between Iran and Israel via a post on his Truth Social platform, further fueling a sense of unpredictability surrounding US policy decisions.
Israel hopes the United States will knock out Iran's underground nuclear site Fordow with its superior firepower but may try alone within days while military gains and global opinion allow, two Israeli security sources told Iran International.
The two sources still viewed joint action alongside the United States as the most likely scenario, within 48-72 hours at most.
The two sources still viewed joint action alongside the United States as the most likely scenario, within 48-72 hours at most.
An attack could be underway as early Friday night, the sources added, but Israel is also weighing going it alone to avoid losing the military advantage it has gained this week.
“In order for us to force Iran into concessions it would otherwise not make, and to bring it back to the negotiating table, this is the only way; we need the US to take action," an Israeli intelligence source told Iran International on condition of anonymity.
"We need Trump to do this within the next two to three days," one source added. "Trump is extremely unpredictable right now though, so anything could happen.”
Buried deep underground, the Fordow nuclear enrichment facility has remained untouched so far in the ongoing Israeli military campaign which appeared to take Iran by surprise in the early hours of last Friday morning.
Window closing
The window of opportunity to knock out the site was closing, the second Israeli security source said, and Israel had been planning for an attack for months.
“Until now the IDF (Israeli military) has opened up the flight path to Iran and the skies are open but that will be for a limited time, it can’t go on indefinitely,” he told Iran International on condition of anonymity.
“Therefore, if America decides to get involved, it has to be a decision made as fast as possible otherwise the opportunity will be missed.”
As the war begins to impact the global economy, including the soaring price of oil, the source said world powers could quickly lose patience with the conflict.
“There are economic issues at stake, so for example if oil prices spike, then these countries could be involved due to their own economic interests. So in general, America has to take this opportunity within 48-72 hours.”
The reach and strength of Israel's bombers are more limited compared to their American peers, making an attack on Fordow by Israeli forces alone more complex.
“Israel doesn’t have the heavy B-52 capabilities to drop a 14-ton bomb to penetrate the heart of the Iranian atomic sites that have to be destroyed,” the security source said.
Israel’s F-15s travel nearly 2,000 kilometers with far smaller payloads of around 400 kilograms, the source added. "Do the math. America could do that mission within a few days, but for us, it would be a much longer, more complex operation."
Destroying the Fordow enrichment facility requires a US military asset never been used in war, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
Known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, the GBU-57 is designed to tear through 200 feet of mountain rock before exploding. The United States has around 20, the newspaper reported, delivered via B-2 stealth bombers.
In the White House on Wednesday, Trump maintained studied ambiguity. “I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” he told reporters.
Iain Overton, the Executive Director of Action on Armed Violence, told Iran International that despite the heavy blows taken, Tehran could opt to fight on.
“Iran may lack parity in conventional military terms, but it possesses a distributed deterrent capability: armed proxies across the region, cyber warfare expertise, and a long-honed ideological machinery that frames death not as loss but as victory," he said.
"If the Ayatollah’s regime interprets US involvement as existential, it will not capitulate. It will escalate.”
