"... it's not just personnel that is, that is involved here ... It's policy..."

"... MR. GREGORY:  Let me ask you about the nature of the Iranian threat.  Mohamed ElBaradei, who, as you know, runs the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in an interview with the BBC on Wednesday the following:  "The ultimate aim of Iran," he said, "as I understand it, is they want to be recognized as a major power in the Middle East.  [Increasing their nuclear capability] is to them the road to get that recognition, to get that power and prestige.  It is also an insurance policy against what they have heard in the past about regime change." My question, Prime Minister, what does all that's happening on the streets of Iran do, in your estimation, to the nature of the threat from Iran? Is this a game changer in some way?

MR. NETANYAHU:  First of all, I, I don't subscribe to the view that Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons is a status symbol.  It's not.  These are people who are sending thousands and thousands of missiles to their terrorist proxies Hezbollah and Hamas with the specific instruction to bomb civilians in Israel. They're supporting terrorists in the world.  This is not a status symbol.  To have such a regime acquire nuclear weapons is to risk the fact that they might give it to terrorists or give terrorists a nuclear umbrella.  That is a departure in the security of the Middle East and the world, certainly in the security of my country, and so I wouldn't treat the subject so lightly.  Would a regime change be a game changer?  A policy change would be a game changer.

MR. GREGORY:  Right.

MR. NETANYAHU:  I suppose that goes along with--it's not just personnel that is, that is involved here.

MR. GREGORY:  But what--but we may not have regime change here.

MR. NETANYAHU:  It's policy.

MR. GREGORY:  You may not have regime change if--even if there's not, is everything that's happened on the street, does it make Iran more or less likely to engage with the West over its nuclear program?

MR. NETANYAHU:  I don't know.  I think it's too early to say what'll transpire both in Iran and is--and on the international scene.  As I said, I think something fundamental is taking place here.  But I did speak to President Obama about the question of engagement before this happened, and he made it clear that engagement is not an end in itself, it's a means to an end. And the end has to be to prevent this regime from developing nuclear weapons capability, and he said he'd leave all options on the table.  And I'd say if it was right before these demonstrations, well, it's doubly right now...."