Netanyahu Says Israel Still Committed to Removing Iran’s Regime

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Oct. 20 said his government is still committed to removing the Iranian regime, after speaking with U.S. President Donald Trump in recent days about the conflict.

Alongside the United States, Israel launched initial strikes against Iran starting in February. However, the country hasn’t directly struck Iran in months, with the U.S. military carrying the entirety of the combat operation.

“Finishing the job means bringing down the terrorist regime in Iran. It is the head of this poisonous octopus. You cut it off, and it will fall. We will also have peace with Lebanon,” Netanyahu said at an event at Tel Hai University in Kiryat Shmona, according to the Times of Israel.

“We must complete the elimination of the Iranian regime. That is the primary objective,” the prime minister added. “I have spoken about this with President Trump more than once, including the day before yesterday.”

Explaining why the regime in Tehran needs to collapse, Netanyahu said that “it is so fanatical that it will try again to do what it did a year ago, and which we stopped them from doing: producing nuclear bombs and rebuilding the ‘axis.’”

“Therefore, the only way to prevent this is to bring down this regime, and then the elimination of Hezbollah will follow,” he added, referring to the Lebanese terrorist group backed by Iran.

The comment came after Trump endorsed Netanyahu over the past weekend ahead of the upcoming Israeli elections.

“Bibi Netanyahu has been a Great Warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace in combating the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Sunday, adding that the United States would “have to do this work ourselves” if Netanyahu doesn’t win his reelection.

Netanyahu thanked Trump for the endorsement and shared a message to Americans earlier this week.

“Let me say to the American people: If you’re worried about today’s gas prices, think of what will happen if Iran gets nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu warned. “Something that Donald Trump and I will never allow. And when that happens, when that threat of that regime disappears, gas prices will go down.”

In the meantime, Iranian attacks, both threatened and real, have kept ship traffic through the strait to a trickle, while a U.S. maritime blockade and trade sanctions have cut ​off Iran’s oil export revenues and exacerbated growing domestic economic woes.

Trump has said he expects oil ​prices to drop after the elections but has not offered a detailed plan to end the war and permanently reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global ⁠energy shipping route effectively closed by Iran since the war began.

Trump has said the U.S. military will not bomb Iran again before the U.S. elections on Nov. 3. However, the officials said Tehran continues to expect that bombing will resume sooner or later.

On Oct. 19, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made an unannounced visit to Israel and met Netanyahu to discuss tensions with Iran and possible future developments.

Top Israeli officials, who spoke to Epoch Magazine Israel, said the meeting covered the ongoing fighting between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi terrorist organization. The Pentagon chief also met with other Israeli officials.

Hegseth confirmed in an X post that he met with U.S. troops in the Middle East, without providing details.

Reuters contributed to this report.