LONDON, March 12. /TASS/. Israel did not have a clear plan for regime change when it attacked Iran, with expectations that airstrikes could lead to a popular uprising having been driven by "wishful thinking" rather than hard intelligence, The Guardian quoted security sources as saying.

According to it, Israel hoped that the bombing of Iran itself would cause protests in the republic that would "immediately collapse the Iranian government." The story says that, having been unable to achieve this goal, Israel now intends to focus on at least taking enriched Iranian uranium outside the country.

On February 28, the United States and Israel launched a military operation against Iran, hitting major Iranian cities, including Tehran. The White House justified the attack by saying that Tehran posed a missile and nuclear threat.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps retaliated with a sweeping attack on Israel. US facilities in Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were also attacked.