Video: Khamenei assassination was a strategic mistake, Israeli opposition leader says
Abdullateef Fowewe
Yair Golan, leader of Israel’s Democrats party and a former IDF deputy chief of staff, said on Friday that the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was a mistake that ultimately harmed Israel’s long-term interests.
Khamenei assassination was a strategic mistake, Israeli opposition leader says
Speaking at a cultural event in Rishon LeZion in an interview with journalist Yossi Yehoshua, Golan stated, “I unequivocally believe that killing the elder Khamenei was a mistake. Not because he didn’t deserve to die, but because it doesn’t serve the interests of the State of Israel.
“There is always a certain advantage to having an elderly, long-serving leader. And he was already 86.”
He argued that the killing removed a veteran figure and left Iran under the influence of more extreme elements.
Golan assessed that Khamenei’s son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, appears controlled by ultra-hardline security leadership, resulting in “people who are more extreme and more violent.”
Golan further criticised Operation Roaring Lion, the joint Israeli-U.S. campaign that began with the strike on Khamenei.
“Israel was at the height of its achievements against Iran at the end of Operation Rising Lion,” he said, referring to an earlier 2025 operation.
“From a long-term strategic perspective, Operation Roaring Lion worsened our position because Netanyahu himself set an unrealistic objective that was never achieved: overthrowing the Iranian regime.”
Ali Khamenei was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his Tehran compound on February 28, 2026, in the opening phase of Operation Roaring Lion.
He was succeeded by his son Mojtaba.
The operation aimed to degrade Iranian military capabilities, air defenses, and leadership structures following earlier exchanges of fire, including Operation Rising Lion in 2025. Regime change was not achieved.
Golan, a prominent opposition figure and former senior military officer, has used the remarks to question Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy, arguing that the focus should have been on securing long-term regional arrangements rather than pursuing what he described as an unattainable goal of toppling the Iranian government.
