US EditionIsrael urges Iranians to revolt but privately assesses they’ll be ‘slaughtered’
Israeli officials hope for a revolt to weaken Iran’s government despite assessing protesters face deadly repression; 5,000 killed in crackdown, UN says.
- On February 28, U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began bombardments and urged Iranians to take up arms; Iranian health officials report over 1,400 killed and at least 18,500 injured.
- The cable circulating at the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem said last Friday top Israeli officials urged U.S. diplomats to support an Iranian uprising despite privately warning protesters would be 'slaughtered'.
- Israeli intelligence and military officials have long urged protests, and a senior Israeli official told Axios they are 'going to do what we did in Gaza' as Mai Sato reported around 5,000 killed in the crackdown.
- Iran analyst Narges Bajoli warned many will feel betrayed and see Israel exploiting Iranian lives, while Trita Parsi added this 'should not surprise anyone' as Israel pursues its own interests.
- Truthout said it launched a fundraiser with 9 days to hit a $50,000 goal and asked readers for support; the article is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
20 Articles
20 Articles
Israel urges Iranian uprising while privately saying they’d 'get slaughtered'
This article was originally published by Truthout on Mar. 17, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. Israeli officials are reportedly urging the U.S. to join them in their public urging of Iranians to stage an uprising against their government, even as the Israeli government internally assesses that protesters would be “slaughtered” if they did so, demonstrating Israel’s blasé attitude toward Iranian lives a…
Israel fears anti-regime protesters in Iran would be 'slaughtered' if unrest resumes
Israeli officials reportedly told US diplomats Iran’s regime remains firmly in control and would crush any uprising, even as Israel publicly urges Iranians to rise up against the clerical government
The Israeli Prime Minister yesterday incited Iranians to protest against the Ayatollahs. But a file of his warns: "They would be killed"
At the same time, Iran's demonstrators were "slaughtered if they went out against their government, as high-ranking Israeli officials said, according to a telegram. At the beginning of the year, thousands of people were killed in Iran because they had demonstrated against the regime. If the Iranians did so again, "the people would be slaughtered," because Iran's most important force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, had "the upper hand." That wa…
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