Israel’s finance minister, in an interview with the podcast “About Meaning,” said that if the Islamic Republic, in response to economic pressures, turned to military escalation, Israel would be prepared to target “all of Iran’s energy infrastructure, inside and outside.”

Bezalel Smotrich said that continued economic pressure could bring the Islamic Republic to a point of collapse.

Smotrich expressed hope that conditions would reach a point where Iranian citizens would “have nothing to lose, eat or drink,” and would take to the streets to overthrow the government.