ADRIAN MA, HOST:
Today is the ninth day of war. The U.S. military says another service member has died, bringing the death toll now to seven Americans. And Iranian state television says its religious leaders have selected a new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late ayatollah. Meanwhile, Israel's military told NPR it will take three more weeks to achieve its military goals in Iran. To unpack all this, we have NPR's Daniel Estrin on the line now from Tel Aviv. And Daniel, can you start off by telling us what this Israeli military official told you about Israel's plans for Iran?
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: This is a senior Israeli defense official in the military's Operations Directorate, so he's in the headquarters planning the Israeli military strategy in this war, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the military plans. He said the goal is to decimate Iran's military forces, so the army, the navy, and also military industries. And this official said Israel believes it needs about three more weeks to accomplish that goal, which is to destabilize the Iranian regime so that it collapses.
Now, about three weeks - that's Israel's timeline. We don't know what President Trump's timeline is. And this official told me that Israel is fighting as if every day might be the last day of the war. As he put it, you never know if President Trump will wake up tomorrow and say mission accomplished. Let's wrap it up. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke this weekend and said Israel has many more targets and surprises in store. And we saw one of those surprises this weekend. Israel targeted Iranian oil facilities for the very first time in the war.
MA: Wow. So it really sounds like Israel is just kind of going forward with or without the U.S. And targeting oil facilities really seems like a sort of new chapter in the war. Can you explain why that's significant?
ESTRIN: Yeah. Well, Israel has, until now, been targeting Iranian military officials, military facilities, missile launchers. This appears to be the first time Israel's targeting a civilian oil facility in Iran. The military says it's a legitimate target. It says that the Iranian military has used that oil to literally fuel the missiles to launch them toward Israel and the region. In Iran, there has been footage published by The Associated Press of pillars of fire in the night sky from these Israeli strikes and reports in Tehran today of literally raining oil - oil-saturated raindrops falling on the city.
We've also seen in the Gulf, Iran accused of targeting a desalination plant in Bahrain. That's really important. This region really depends on desalinated water for its drinking water. So we're seeing the Gulf getting pulled deeper into this war. And in Lebanon, as Israel battles Hezbollah, two Israeli soldiers were killed this weekend there, and Lebanese authorities say more than half a million people have been displaced from their homes.
MA: So those are some scenes from Lebanon and Iran. You are in Israel right now. What does it feel like there?
ESTRIN: It's very surreal because things are kind of going back to normal, so you have restaurants and workplaces and malls opening. But Iran is still firing missiles multiple times a day or in the middle of the night. So you'll be in your apartment building, you'll be on the street, everyone will get an alert on their phone that a missile is on its way. It's about a five-minute advance warning, and then you just see people walking in the streets toward an underground bunker. It's very calm. People are calm, but you hear these booms. And a missile, this afternoon, hit just a short drive up the coast, just a few minutes from me in Tel Aviv. And yet in Israel, public opinion polls show very high support for the Iran war.
MA: That is NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Thanks, Daniel.
ESTRIN: Thanks so much, Adrian. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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