Analysis of Iranian Leadership and Israeli Strategy

Was it a mistake to assassinate Khamenei?

I think that, unequivocally, assassinating Khamenei the elder was

a mistake.

Not because he didn't deserve to die, but because it does not serve the interests of the State of

Israel. Whenever you have an elderly, veteran leader,

there is a certain advantage to that. Surely by now he was already eighty—he was 86,

ושש,

and I think Khamenei the son, if he is even

functioning,

my impression is that he is controlled by Iran's

ultra-extremist strategic security establishment.

In fact, after we shaved off the layer of

number ones at many key points,

we were left with more extreme, more violent people.

In that respect,

um, I can say that Israel was at its peak,

at the height of its achievements against

the Iranians at the end of, uh, Rising Lion

and Roar of the Lion, which in fact, from a long-term strategic perspective,

worsened our situation, rather than improving it, because

Netanyahu himself set an unrealistic war

objective that indeed failed and was not achieved, namely

the overthrow of the Iranian regime.