Israel Wants "Decisive Victory" in Iran. Is It Succeeding?

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

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🗓️ 1 April 2026

⏱️ 18 minutes

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Summary

Get your tickets to our L.A. live show here! When the war with Iran started, Israel had three goals: reduce the threat from Iranian missiles, eliminate its nuclear capabilities and, most importantly, create the conditions for regime change. WSJ’s Dov Lieber reports that about four weeks in, achieving those goals against Israel’s biggest enemy is proving elusive. With President Trump stating that he wants the war to end within weeks, Israel is now racing to cripple Iranian industry. Jessica Mendoza hosts. Further Listening:- Iran Thinks It’s Winning the War - The Global Scramble for Patriot Missiles Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Yesterday,
0:03.0	My Vahuey Israelis,
0:07.0	Erevehraulte this
0:10.0	Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
0:14.0	gave a speech where he talked about the war with Iran.
0:25.3	Netanyahu connected the war to today's Passover holiday.
0:30.3	He compared Israel's attacks on Iran to the story of the plagues from the Book of Exodus.
0:33.5	In the Ruhach of Pesach the carov to us,
0:36.5	inchal of the war, the time of the time,
0:37.3	10 mackot on the rashah. In scripture, he said, the Egyptian Pharaoh continued to harm the people of Israel
0:44.3	despite the plagues.
0:46.1	And today, he said, the story of the war with Iran is no different.
0:50.8	Quote, the campaign is not yet over.
1:02.0	When that campaign started, Israel had three stated goals in Iran. One was to reduce Iran's ballistic missile capability.
1:07.0	The second was to reduce Iran's nuclear capability.
1:11.6	And the third was to facilitate the conditions for regime change in Iran.
1:18.6	That means to facilitate the ability of Iranians themselves to topple their government.
1:24.6	That's our colleague Dove Lieber.
1:26.6	He covers Israel for the Wall Street Journal.
1:30.3	And at the time, how achievable did these goals seem?
1:35.3	Two of those goals were more achievable,
1:39.3	namely reducing Iran's ballistic missile capability,
	...

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