NEW YORK, March 13. /TASS/. Israel's military and political leadership has concluded that it is impossible to forcibly change Iran’s government and state system as part of the current military operation, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources in the Israeli cabinet.

The publication notes that Israel initially set ambitious goals for the operation, aiming to rapidly alter Iran’s state structure. Key figures in the country’s leadership were eliminated in the early days of the war. Nevertheless, the current situation shows that the Islamic Republic’s state structure has remained resilient and continued to carry out its core functions despite ongoing attacks. In public statements, Israeli leaders continue to call on the people of Iran to rise up, but privately skepticism is growing within the government about the feasibility of its maximalist goals.

The newspaper’s sources noted that under present conditions, Israel and the United States would need to continue military operations for several months to potentially effect a change of government in Iran. A change in the constitutional order would also require mass protests by opposition-minded Iranians, which seems unlikely at this time. Some in the Israeli establishment believe that a prolonged military campaign could instead strengthen Iran’s state structure and harden Tehran’s domestic and foreign policy.

The United States and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on February 28. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, were struck. The White House justified the attack by citing alleged missile and nuclear threats from Iran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel. US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were also hit. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and some other key Iranian leaders were killed in the joint US-Israeli attack.