
The US and Israel have chosen the wrong strategy with Iran. A former Mossad official tells RT that interfering in the Islamic Republic's leadership in the hope of fomenting a revolution was a "miscalculation."
Rami Igra, who headed the Hostages and Missing Persons Division of Israeli intelligence, said that those who expected Iranians to take to the streets after the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior officials were "very disappointed."
"People don't understand what a revolution is," Igra said. "We need popular movements - there is no popular movement in Iran. We need local leadership - not [Reza] Pahlavi from Los Angeles," he added, referring to the exiled son of Iran's last shah, who has positioned himself as an alternative to the country's current clerical leadership.
Igra also dismissed the idea that the ongoing US-Israeli air campaign could decisively defeat Iran, comparing it to World War II. “Until the Russian troops entered Berlin, nothing worked,” he said, emphasizing that “war is not won by air strikes - it is won by soldiers on the ground.”
The former official's comments come as the US and Israel continue their fourth week of strikes on Iran. According to Igra, the campaign has made a nuclear Iran more likely, citing reports of a "new fatwa" from Iranian leaders calling for a nuclear bomb.
He warned that the conflict is now shifting towards an "energy war" with global consequences and expressed skepticism about US President Donald Trump's ability to broker a deal to end the conflict.