An evil regime is being toppled

For Iranians, in Iran and elsewhere, this war is not only a war, but a rescue mission for the people of Iran. 

“No-one is happy that our motherland is under bombardment. We are not happy about it. But many of us feel it is the only choice. It’s like sending someone you love into surgery, you know the risks and the pain. Still, you do it because the cancer has to be removed,” so said Iranian activist Sam Nik, on a webinar about the war hosted by the South African Zionist Federation on 9 March. 

Nik fled the Iranian regime and came to South Africa five years ago because of the increasingly unsafe conditions created by the government, particularly for women. To protect herself and her daughter, she left a society where women often face severe discrimination and where, tragically, violence against women occurs with little accountability. 

Nik emphasised that for her, and many Iranians, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “wasn’t an Iranian leader. He was the head of the snake. He founded all the terrorist groups around the world”, and that his assassination has been celebrated. 

The demise of Khamenei is not the only major win of the war. Major Liad Diamond, head of public diplomacy in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), explained that at day 10, the IDF has neutralised more than 300 missile launchers. 

“Once you take out the launchers, the missiles become useless because they can’t be fired,” he said. “A major achievement, particularly for the Israeli Air Force, has been tracking down and destroying active launchers. At the same time, we have been targeting the broader ballistic missile production chain in Iran, including multiple sites where the missiles are manufactured. One major complex we struck, known as ‘Missile City’, contains several factories that produce components for ballistic missiles.” 

Diamond explained that there are three major goals of this war: to make sure Iran never has nuclear weapons, to irreparably damage the Iranian ballistic missile programme, and to stop the proxy programme. 

“This is an unprecedented operation where we’re working … people say shoulder to shoulder, I would say wing to wing, with our American counterparts, which is something unbelievable.” 

He explained that due to its successes, the IDF is now starting to target the financiers in surgical strikes, to neutralise the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and Hezbollah liaison. 

He also explained that the IDF is seeing collapse within the regime. “I am well aware that they said that they have already found someone instead of Khamenei, who is his second son, if I’m not mistaken, but I wouldn’t stand next to him in the next couple of days,” said Diamond. 

Lieutenant Colonel Maurice Hirsch, a leading expert on international law and terror financing, explained, “I don’t think there’s been any clear statement on a goal to tear Iran apart. I think the opposite has been true. There has been a very clear statement, both from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and from President Donald Trump, that the goal of the war is to avert the imminent danger that existed from this regime, but to maintain to the best extent possible the territorial integrity of Iran. Iran is for the Iranian people. 

“We are not at war with the Iranian people. We are at war with the Iranian terror regime. And once they’ve gone, we wish the Iranian people peace and harmony in their homeland within its current borders.” 

Hirsch explained that this war comes as a result of a pre-emptive strike to dismantle the regime, which has been threatening Israel for years. 

“It’s part of a plan. This is why Iran and Ali Khamenei, the Iranian regime, and this Axis of Terror, spend $100 billion [R1.6 trillion] developing their nuclear weapons programme. It’s not only developing the sites, but the upkeep every single year,” said Hirsch. “ It’s ensuring that every single year more and more centrifuges are imported, more and more uranium is enriched to get to that position where you are already a nuclear power. What are they using nuclear power for? They’re not using it for friendly reasons. They’re using it to threaten and to annihilate Israel. That is their stated goal.” 

Hirsch explained that 7 October 2023 was a watershed moment, where we were able to see Iran working from Gaza through Hamas, and then other Iranian proxies like Hezbollah, the Houthis, and then the IRGC itself entering the fray. This all necessitated the current war. 

“They are openly attacking Israel from sovereign Iran and directly attacking the civilian population in Israel predominantly. They’re not attacking military sites. They’re attacking anything that comes around,” he said, “Just today, we heard the disastrous news that several Israelis had been killed by cluster bombs fired by the IRGC, which just spread and covered an entire region. That is something that, when used against the civilian population, is a flagrant breach of humanitarian law, the laws of war.” 

Diamond asserted that while Israelis have been under attack since 28 February, there is a resilience and morale that can be felt across the country. 

“There’s a special home front situation right now. Most of the people are at home, there’s no school, and people still have to be near shelters. But the Israeli resilience is unbelievable. Everybody’s listening to the Home Front Command, which is important because it saves lives,” he said. 

“You see the spirit of the people, which is unbelievable. It’s in ranks in the military, our pilots, our men and women who are operating these amazing machines, and also the ground crew and aerial defence systems. The morale is high, which is important because we still have a way to go. This is not the end. We’re in the middle.”