Senior Israeli officials told American diplomats that Iranian protesters would be “slaughtered” if they took to the streets against Iran’s clerical regime, even as Israel has publicly called for an uprising, The Washington Post reported Tuesday, citing a U.S. State Department cable it obtained.
The document, circulated by the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Friday, said Israel assessed that Iran’s regime is “not cracking” and remains prepared to “fight to the end,” despite the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and continuing strikes, according to the report.
During a wave of protests that erupted in December and continued into January, the Iranian government killed tens of thousands of demonstrators.
The document said Israeli officials believed that if protests break out again on a similar scale, “the people will get slaughtered” in the streets because Iran’s Revolutionary Guard still "has the upper hand." Despite that assessment, the officials said they hoped for a civilian uprising and urged the United States to prepare to support protesters if that happens, the report said.
The Post said the cable summarized meetings held last week between U.S. officials and senior Israeli officials from the National Security Council, Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday night issued a message to the Iranian people marking Nowruz, the Persian New Year and spring holiday.
“In the past 24 hours, we knocked out two of the terrorist chieftains, the top terrorist chieftains of this tyranny,” Netanyahu said in English. “Our aircraft are hitting the terror operatives on the grounds, in the crossroads, in the city squares. This is meant to enable the brave people of Iran to celebrate the Festival of Fire.”
Since the start of the war, Netanyahu has released several video messages calling on Iranians to take their fate into their own hands. At a news conference last Thursday, he said, “I say to the Iranian people: The moment when you will be able to embark on a new path of freedom is approaching. That moment is drawing closer. We stand with you. We are helping you. But in the end — it depends on you. It is in your hands.”
The Post also reported that U.S. President Donald Trump’s position has shifted in recent months. At first, he called on protesters to take power into their own hands, but more recently acknowledged that Iranian security forces would kill demonstrators if they went into the streets.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the document, told the newspaper that Trump “doesn’t like to see suffering anywhere, including in Iran, where the terrorist regime was slaughtering protesters before the president intervened and is now targeting civilians throughout the region.”
U.S. officials told the newspaper they are no longer working to bring down the Iranian government. According to the cable, Israeli officials also acknowledged to American diplomats that Israel had expected Khamenei’s killing to sow “more chaos” inside the regime. Instead, the cable said, the government’s grip on power has continued to be reflected in its ability to launch ballistic missiles and drones “everywhere they want to.”
The document also said Israeli officials told U.S. diplomats that despite being wounded, Mojtaba Khamenei, the late supreme leader’s son and successor, is “still in charge” and is “more aligned” with Revolutionary Guard hard-liners than his father.
The officials said the regime might become more moderate if the new leader is also killed, but stressed that it was "stubborn" and would still have to be “taken down from within,” according to the report.