Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter declared on Sunday that the Iranian people must rise up to overthrow the Islamic Republic regime.
In an interview with CNN's "State of the Union" host Dana Bash, Leiter stated, “I think that we need boots on the ground, but they have got to be Iranian boots, and I think they’re coming."
Elaborating on his remarks, he drew parallels to historical regime collapses. “There’s a point of combustion. Look, nobody knew when the Soviet Union would collapse. Nobody knew when the Romanians would turn their guns against their… government. But it happened at some point. And if we degrade them enough, the people of Iran are going to say, we’ve had enough and we want a different regime."
Leiter emphasized that the conflict will end only when there is “not an entity in Tehran that’s going to threaten the region."
He added, “Now, if that’s going to be brought about by this regime having a change of heart, hard to imagine, but going on the assumption that that happens, then it’ll take place that way."
However, he predicted change would most likely come through an uprising by the Iranian people, noting that Iranian forces “brutally put down" protesters earlier this year.
Leiter vowed that Israel's response to Iran’s missile launches at its territory would be resolute: “The response is going to be to continue with this campaign until we bring this regime to its knees."
He continued, “We cannot live anymore with a country that is malign, that has intent on destroying us, that declares it’s going to destroy us all the time and is now firing ballistic missiles into all of its neighbors. This has to stop."