United States and Israel have created a joint task force aiming at increasing internal pressure on the Iranian regime by encouraging protests inside of the country, Israeli TV Channel 10 reported on Wednesday, July 4.
The task force has met several times, and its work, along with the current situation in Iran has been discussed in a recent meeting between Israel’s National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat and his American counterpart, John Bolton, the report says.
Channel 10 adds that the recent attempt by the Israeli and American officials to address the Iranian people directly occurred in the framework of the task force mission.
While bashing the Iranian regime for its nuclear and military ambitions, Israeli Prime Minister recently published several video messages on social media praising the Iranian nation for their talent and courage and offered them help. In one of clips, released on June 10, he mentioned the water crisis in Iran and offered Iranian people Israeli technology and knowhow to recycle waste water.
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After the draw between the Iranian and Portuguese football teams in the World Cup in Russia, Israeli Prime Minister published another video on June 27, hailing the courage of the Iran’s national team, as well as the protestors attending the anti-establishment rallies on that day. He said that Iran's rulers were wasting billion of dollars on funding terrorism and wars in the Middle East, instead of solving the country’s problems.
A similar sentiment was reflected in a series of tweets published by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “Iran’s corrupt regime is wasting the country’s resources on Assad, Hizbollah, Hamas & Houthis, while Iranians struggle. It should surprise no one Iran protests continue. People are tired of the corruption, injustice & incompetence of their leaders. The world hears their voice,” Pompeo wrote on June 27 on Twitter next to picture of Iranian protesters.
However, Israeli and American officials say that a regime change in Iran was not on their agenda. U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton said in May that the Trump administration was not pursuing such a goal.
"Nobody is seriously thinking about regime change, but this team is trying to see if we can use the internal weaknesses of the Iranian regime in order to create more pressure that will contribute to changing Iranian behavior," an unnamed Israeli official was quoted by Channel 10 regarding the goal of the US-Israeli task force.