Israeli policy: Destruction, not reform, is Netanyahu's ultimate goal

On Sunday in an interview with Fox News, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, pontificated on a theme he has become increasingly attached to in recent years: that Israel under his leadership would not simply attempt to dismantle Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes through military attack, but in the process usher in regime change in Tehran.

- Peter Beaumont

The Iranian government, he said, was "very weak", adding that given the opportunity, "80% of the people would throw these theological thugs out".

The list of targets in Iran hit by Israel in the last two days appears to confirm that Israel may be pursuing a broader agenda than simply destroying Iran's nuclear programme - striking police headquarters, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence directorate, and the state television broadcaster while it was live on air.

For all that he views himself as an expert on its internal politics, Netanyahu has never visited Iran. His knowledge of the country is filtered through intelligence briefings, which see Iran as a hostile problem, and through the lens of pro-Israeli thinktanks.

If Netanyahu's comments appear eerily familiar, it is because they are. The same Netanyahu, and hawks in Washington, pushed a similar argument in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.