Five Days On: Strategic Rift Emerges as U.S. Downplays Regime Change While Israel Urges Iranians to Overthrow Government

Signs of divergence are now emerging between Washington and Tel Aviv over the political endgame of the expanding war with Iran, even as U.S. and Israeli forces continue coordinated military operations targeting Iranian missile systems, naval assets and military infrastructure.

In the early hours of the conflict, both U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had publicly framed the campaign as one that could ultimately lead to the fall of Iran’s current leadership. But subsequent statements from Washington have suggested a more limited military objective. 

Image Via: Netanyahu on X

Speaking at the White House two days after the strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several senior figures, Trump said the primary U.S. goals were to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, weaken its naval forces and prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed that position at a Pentagon briefing earlier, and stated that the operation was not intended to be a “regime-change war.”

Netanyahu has continued to use stronger political language. In an interview with Fox News earlier this week, the Israeli leader called on Iranians to rise up against their rulers, saying Israel would help create conditions for the Iranian people “to get control of their destiny.” The contrast highlights a potential strategic gap between Washington’s publicly stated military objectives and Israel’s broader political aspirations for the outcome of the conflict.

Meanwhile, the military situation on the ground continued to intensify. Missiles launched from Iran early Wednesday triggered air raid sirens across large parts of Israel, including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, according to the Israeli military. 

Residents were instructed to seek shelter while air defenses attempted to intercept incoming projectiles. The alert was lifted several minutes later and there were no immediate reports of direct impacts.

Explosions were also reported around Tehran at daybreak, according to Iranian state television, as Israeli strikes continued inside Iran on the fifth day of the war. The sustained bombardment follows earlier attacks on Iranian nuclear and military sites and retaliatory strikes by Iran across the Gulf.

The confrontation has also spilled into Lebanon, where Israeli strikes targeting Hezbollah positions have continued. Lebanese state media reported that an airstrike on a residential complex in the city of Baalbek killed at least four people, as Israel says it is responding to missile launches by the Iran-backed group.

At sea, conflicting claims emerged over control of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow shipping corridor through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil passes. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said the strait was effectively under the control of the Islamic Republic’s navy and warned that vessels attempting to pass through risked missile or drone attacks. U.S. Central Command, however, offered a sharply different account. 

Admiral Brad Cooper said American forces had destroyed multiple Iranian naval vessels and asserted that no Iranian ships were currently operating in the Arabian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz or the Gulf of Oman. Trump earlier said the U.S. Navy could begin escorting oil tankers through the waterway if required.

Civilian evacuations are accelerating as governments attempt to move their nationals out of the region. Britain’s Foreign Office announced that a charter flight would depart Muscat on Wednesday evening for British nationals seeking to leave Oman. 

The flight is open to British citizens and their immediate family members with valid travel documents, with priority given to the most vulnerable. Officials said those eligible would be contacted directly and advised travelers not to go to Muscat International Airport unless instructed.

The United States has also authorized non-emergency personnel and their families at diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia and Oman to depart voluntarily as the conflict escalates and Iranian retaliation spreads across the Gulf.

Five days into the war, the human toll is mounting rapidly. Nearly 800 people have been reported killed in Iran since the start of the campaign while casualties have also been reported in Lebanon and Israel as missile exchanges continue across multiple fronts. India's MEA had earlier said that some Indian nationals have lost their lives or are missing in recent days as a result of the ongoing war.

Israeli forces continue to press strikes inside Iran and against Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, while Iran has retaliated with missile and drone attacks across Israel and the Gulf. At the political level, however, uncertainty remains over the ultimate objective of the campaign. 

Washington’s emphasis on degrading Iran’s military and nuclear capabilities contrasts with Israeli rhetoric encouraging internal upheaval in Iran, leaving open questions about whether the war is intended to end with strategic containment or with a transformation of Iran’s governing system.