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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that securing regime change in Iran will ultimately require more than airstrikes to topple the regime.

Getting into it: During a press conference yesterday, Netanyahu argued that while Israel and the US have achieved significant military gains, a decisive political outcome in Iran cannot be achieved “only from the air.” He said, “It is often said that you can’t win…..you can’t do revolutions from the air, that is true,” adding that although “you can do a lot of things from the air and we’re doing,” ultimately “there has to be a ground component as well.” He declined to specify what that would entail, saying only, “There are many possibilities for this ground component, and I take the liberty of not sharing with you all those possibilities.”

Netanyahu emphasized that any lasting regime change would depend not just on military pressure but on internal action by Iranians themselves. “We can create the conditions,” he said, but “they have to… exploit those conditions at a certain point.” He framed the situation as an opportunity for the Iranian public, urging them to “rise to the moment.”

Despite Israel’s campaign targeting senior leadership and infrastructure, Netanyahu acknowledged that the regime has not yet collapsed and continues to function. Still, he argued it has been severely weakened, describing visible “cracks” within the system and claiming Iran is at its “weakest point” in years.

Netanyahu also tied the regime-change discussion to Israel’s broader military objectives, arguing that Iran has already suffered major losses. He claimed that after weeks of strikes, Iran “no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium” or manufacture ballistic missiles, and said Israel is working to “crush these capabilities to the core.”

At the same time, President Trump has suggested that internal opposition in Iran faces extreme risks, saying many who might otherwise challenge the regime are deterred because they have been threatened with death. He has also referenced previous anti-government protests in which he says that more than 30,000 people were killed.