The devil known might be better than the devil unknown. Israel and the US seem to have brought a far bigger problem with their military campaign in Iran, and eliminating Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his officials. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) told a Parliament panel that the new regime was “more extreme” than the previous one. The head of the panel signalled that the war could resume in the “coming days”.
This analysis by Israel is problematic on at least two counts.
One, the bleak assessment brings about a bigger problem for Israel, which faces an existential threat from Iran. Second, it comes at a time when the world was banking on two parallel peace talks for some respite from the war in the Middle East. The war, running for over 40 days now, has disrupted the world due to shortages in fuel and petrochemical derivatives.
IDF representatives told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee in a closed-door intelligence briefing about the “more extreme” Iranian regime, reported The Times of Israel on Friday.
i24News, the first to report on the briefing by the IDF, said the bleak prognosis came even as Israeli officials assessed “both the outcome of recent operations and the risk of renewed conflict”.
Two sources told The Times of Israel Hebrew that the leaders of the current regime were drawn from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), “who are considered to be far more ideologically rigid than the previous political leadership”.
It is ironic if Israel and the US have to deal with a “more extreme” regime in Iran now.
“The Israeli Air Force carried out more than 1,000 strike missions inside Iran as part of over 8,500 operational sorties conducted throughout the campaign,” reported i24News on Friday. The IDF said it hit around 4,000 targets.
The US has lost millions in military assets in the 40-day war with Iran. Two of its airmen needed to be rescued from within Iran in a very risky operation.
After all the destruction and pain to the world, Israel’s assessment is that they have a bigger problem.
The closed-door briefing leaked to Israeli media could signal a restart of the deadly strikes in the Middle East. Israel believes Iran to be unfinished business and would want to continue with the operations.
“There is a possibility that the campaign will resume in the coming days,” Boaz Bismuth, chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said after the briefing, according to i24News. “We are only at an interim,” he added.
Bismuth’s comments, according to i24News, add to the concerns within Israel’s security establishment that the pause in the strikes in the Middle East might not hold for long.
The peace talks between Iran and the United States are set to begin Saturday in Pakistan, according to the White House. The US delegation will be led by Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
Iran has not officially announced its delegation, but Iran’s local media reports say it will be led by the speaker of Iran’s Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Lebanon will take part in a meeting next week in Washington with US and Israeli representatives to discuss and announce a ceasefire, a senior Lebanese official told news agency Reuters.
On March 9, the clerical body unanimously selected Mojtaba Khamenei — the late Supreme Leader’s second son and a low-profile but influential mid-ranking cleric — as the new Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic.
Mojtaba, long rumored to wield significant behind-the-scenes power and known for his hardline ideological stance, was announced as the country’s third Supreme Leader in state media, signaling continuity and even intensification of the regime’s revolutionary principles rather than any moderation.
The announcement came amid the chaos of the war, with Mojtaba issuing his first public message through state television, vowing to defend the Islamic Republic’s “legitimate rights” while declaring that Iran had emerged stronger from the strikes.
This has only complicated the delicate diplomatic efforts underway, as the new hardliner at the helm may prove far less inclined toward concessions in the upcoming talks.
– Ends
Tune In
