JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
It's now been over one month since the U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran. President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have said their aim was to bring about regime change, but Iran's regime remains in power and is still counterattacking U.S. military sites, Israel and Gulf states, and is restricting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz as leverage. Responding to rising energy prices, President Trump has alternated between threats of escalation and assurances that negotiations are underway to end the war and that regime change has already taken place. Those assurances are all denied by Iran. Let's hear now from the Israeli side. Ophir Falk is foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Netanyahu, and he joins us now. Thanks for being here.
OPHIR FALK: Thanks for having me, Juana.
SUMMERS: What are Israel's goals in the war at this point? What do you want to see accomplished when this war ends?
FALK: Our objective is to remove the existential threat posed by the ayatollah regime. It's a lunatic, genocidal terror regime. And the best way of doing that is to remove the regime. Another way to do that is to decimate the regime's military capabilities, which we have been doing big time. A third way that the president sees as a very valid alternative is negotiations. Those three methods are not mutually exclusive. To the contrary, they complement one another.
SUMMERS: Let me ask you this. How would you today assess the strength of the Iranian leadership? It's been a month of war, and yet, Iran's leadership is still managing to fire missiles at Israel, and the regime seems to remain intact.
FALK: Well, I think Iran has never been weaker, and I know Israel has never been stronger. We've taken out thousands of their missiles. We've taken out most of their leadership - actually, all of their first-tier leadership, most of their second-tier leadership. And now they have a D league leadership that is being negotiated with. At the end of the day, they'll either have to surrender or be left with sticks and stones.
SUMMERS: Do you see regime change as a possibility still?
FALK: At the end of the day, it's up to the Iranian people. We are creating the conditions for the Iranian people to step up to the plate, to take their freedom in their own hands. At the end of the day, sooner or later, this regime will fall.
SUMMERS: U.S. President Trump says that diplomatic efforts to end this war are now underway. I want to ask you, is Israel a party to these negotiations?
FALK: Well, from Day 1, we have had zero daylight between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu and between the American and Israeli armed forces. President Trump thinks that he can reach the objectives of this operation by means of negotiations. And if anybody can do it, President Trump can do it. But...
SUMMERS: Is Israel a part of those negotiations, though?
FALK: We're negotiating with bombs. At the end of the day, as we've said from Day 1, they cannot have nuclear weapons. They cannot have ballistic missiles.
SUMMERS: How does Israel, though, propose to pressure Iran to give up its enriched uranium? Or do you think this will require a U.S. military operation to take that uranium by force?
FALK: Well, clearly, I can't get into operational details and what's on the table and what's not on the table. But again, I think that either they surrender or will be left with sticks and stones.
SUMMERS: This war has expanded to Lebanon. Israel's military has invaded southern Lebanon to prevent Hezbollah militants from firing rockets into northern Israel. And Israel has ordered the destruction of Lebanese border villages as a buffer zone. Officials say troops could stay in the area beyond any end of hostilities. Could you imagine this expanded Israeli presence lasting months or even years?
FALK: Well, again, Hezbollah is an Iranian proxy. They opened fire on Israel. They're shooting rockets at city centers and civilians. And if we learned one thing from the October 7 massacre is that we cannot allow genocidal terrorist organizations on our borders. We can't let Hamas anywhere near our border in the south and we can't let Hezbollah anywhere near our border in the north. That is one clear lesson that we've learned, and we're implementing that lesson as we speak.
SUMMERS: I do want to ask you about the toll of this war. Iran's ambassador to the U.N. says that more than 1,500 civilians have been killed in Iran. That is a figure that's backed up by the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. The Lebanese government says more than 1,200 people have been killed there and this fighting has created mass displacement. And of course, Iranian strikes have killed dozens in the region, including 19 people - at least - in Israel. All of these deaths, are they necessary to achieve Israel's aims as you've just described them?
FALK: For Israel and for the United States as well, I'm sure, every civilian casualty is a tragedy. For Iran and all of their proxies, every civilian casualty is a strategy. They target our civilians. They shoot ballistic missiles and cluster bombs at our city centers. They attacked our civilians on October 7, slaughtering over a thousand civilians. We do our best to minimize the threat and the damage to civilians. Now, does war have a price? Yes, action has a price, but inaction has a much higher price in this case.
SUMMERS: I do have to note here, though, that Israel and the U.S. started this round of violence, and on the very first day, at least 150 schoolchildren were killed in southern Iran by what appears to be a U.S. Tomahawk missile. So how does that square with what you've just said?
FALK: First of all, this started over 47 years ago, and it's been going on for 47 years while this regime has been calling death to America and death to Israel. As for the incident that you mentioned, I understand it's under investigation. I don't know exactly what happened there. What I do know 100% - it is against American policy and Israeli policy to target civilians. We don't do that. The opposite is true. We do everything possible that civilians are not harmed. And Iran and their proxies, their genocidal terrorist organization proxies - Hamas, Hezbollah - do everything they can, everything possible to kill civilians. That is the key difference between the two of us. And...
SUMMERS: I just want to make sure I understand you clearly. Did you just say - you were making the point that Israel does not kill civilians. Did I hear you correctly?
FALK: The point that I'm making - I'm glad for the question - Israel does everything it can to minimize the threat to civilians. No military on Earth, as the head of urban warfare at West Point, Colonel John Spencer, pointed out - no military in history goes to the lengths that the IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces, goes to mitigate and to minimize the risk to civilians.
SUMMERS: Ophir Falk, adviser to the prime minister of Israel, thank you so much for your time.
FALK: Thank you very much. Thank you, Juana. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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