Retired US general states US and Israel can’t succeed in replacing Iranian regime

(SeaPRwire) –   A retired American general has forecast that “neither Israel nor the United States will completely succeed in replacing the Iranian regime.”

The comment was attributed to former Lt. Gen. Mark Schwartz in the Israel Hayom newspaper. The concurrent U.S. and Israeli operations targeting Iran, known as Operation Epic Fury and Operation Roaring Lion, reached their twentieth day on Thursday.

“Based on my professional evaluation, neither Israel nor the U.S. will achieve full success in replacing the Iranian regime. The primary reason is that dozens, if not hundreds, of Iranian religious figures are positioned to assume the role of Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah, should he be removed,” Schwartz stated to Israel Hayom.

“Regardless of how many successors are eliminated sequentially, there will perpetually be another in the queue. Iran’s intelligence and security services, the Revolutionary Guards, and the nation’s military also possess significant depth. They have the capacity to regenerate the leadership echelon if it is decimated,” he further noted.

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Schwartz is a lifelong Green Beret with 33 years of service in the U.S. Army, as reported by The National Special Forces Green Beret Memorial, where he chairs the advisory board.

The organization stated, “Throughout his career, Mark served across the Middle East, Europe, and North Africa,” and that “He has led strategic planning and operations in collaboration with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States Agency for International Development.”

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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard cautioned on Wednesday that should the Iranian regime endure Operation Epic Fury, “it is likely to embark on a multi-year campaign to reconstitute its military, missile, and drone capabilities.”

Gabbard also remarked that the intelligence community “evaluates Operation Epic Fury as propelling a fundamental regional shift that originated with Hamas’s October 7th, 2023, assault on Israel and persisted through last year’s 12-day war, leading to the weakening of Iran and its proxy forces.”

The military campaign to date has led to the death of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has been succeeded by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei.