Netanyahu threatens Iran with a strike it “cannot even imagine” and reaffirms regime-change goal

Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened Iran with a strike “it cannot even imagine” if Tehran attacks Israel again, while reaffirming that his government seeks to overthrow Iran's leadership.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting before the Jewish New Year, the Israeli prime minister said the Iranian government was weak and “fighting for its life.” He went further in defining Israel's political objective: “We are determined to fulfill the mission of overthrowing the regime.”

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If Iran makes a mistake and attacks us, it will suffer a strike it cannot even imagine.

His remarks came amid a renewed escalation involving Iran, the United States and Israel. Washington and Tehran resumed fighting last week after roughly a month of relative calm, and the Strait of Hormuz again emerged as a central theater of the conflict.

Iran said on Sunday that it had attacked an unmanned U.S. military vessel attempting to enter a restricted area of the strait. Washington rejected the claim. Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, called the report from Iranian state media “a total lie.”

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We are determined to fulfill the mission of overthrowing the regime.

The incident followed Washington's announcement a day earlier that it had attacked three Iranian oil tankers in retaliation for ballistic-missile launches against U.S. Navy warships.

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The report came from Iranian state media and is a total lie.

Iranian warnings also intensified. Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the parliament speaker and Tehran's main negotiator, said the period of “proportional responses” had ended. From now on, he said, Iran's retaliation would be “faster, stronger and more painful.”

The Strait of Hormuz is a crucial route for global oil and natural-gas shipments and has become one of Iran's main pressure tools since the war began. The article says Tehran strengthened its control over the passage after initial U.S. and Israeli attacks. The war began on February 28 with joint U.S. and Israeli strikes on Tehran and other Iranian cities. Iran responded with waves of missiles and drones against U.S. and Israeli bases and assets in the region. A ceasefire agreement announced in June did not prevent intermittent clashes.

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Faster, stronger and more painful.