Amid ongoing airstrikes carried out by Israel on Iran over its clandestine nuclear program, Iranian observers say that large swaths of Iran’s citizens are ready for regime change in a country that has been ruthlessly ruled by the Islamist ayatollahs for almost five decades.

In comments on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remarked that the Jewish state’s military operation against Iran is not aimed at forcing a change in regime, but he encouraged the Iranian people to rise up against the Islamist Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “Eighty percent of the people would throw these theological thugs out,” he observed. “They shoot women because their hair is uncovered. They shoot students. They just suck the oxygen out from these brave and gifted people, the Iranian people. The decision to act, to rise up this time, is the decision of the Iranian people.”

Numerous Iran experts say that there is a massive underground movement of both Christians and Muslims in Iran that is hoping for the fall of the oppressive Islamist regime.

Hormoz Shariat, an Iranian who fled with his family to the U.S. after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, is a Christian convert from Islam who founded Iran Alive Ministries, a satellite TV network that reaches millions in Iran and the Middle East. On Thursday, he told “Washington Watch” that a large percentage of the Iranian people are “hopeful” for regime change. “[Some Iranians are] saying, ‘Hey, we told you the war is ugly. Why did you want war?’ And the other group [is] saying, ‘Well, we know we have to pay a price. We have been paying a price for the last 45 years with our lives. Our loved ones have been killed, and we are going to continue to pay a price. Why not pay a little price for a short time for the government to change?’ So overall, the people of Iran are hopeful.”

Shariat went on to explain that even though the Iranian government has been greatly weakened by Israel’s military campaign, the regime still holds a firm grip over its populace since the Persian Spring of 2009.

“They are hoping for the change of government with the least amount of civilian casualties … because they paid a big price in the last 20 years,” he noted. “Multiple times they came on the streets and they protested, and the government of Iran was so cruel, killed thousands of them, arrested tens of thousands of them and tortured, raped, and then executed many. … The Iranian government is telling its own people today, ‘We may be weak towards the outsiders, towards Israel, towards [the U.S.]. We may have lost our proxy forces in the Middle East, but hey, watch out! We are strong towards you. … [W]e will have no mercy.’ So the Iranian people know that. That’s why … you don’t see major protests on the streets because the people of Iran know … if they come on the streets, they will kill tens of thousands of them with no mercy.”

Marziyeh Amirizadeh, an author and the president of the New Persia ministry, is also an Iranian Christian convert from Islam who spent nine months in prison after distributing Bibles to 20,000 Iranians and starting two underground house churches. She agreed that millions of Iranians are secretly celebrating the Israeli campaign against the Ayatollah’s regime.

“[A]lmost every day, I watch the news and follow the messages that Iranians are sending out … and honestly, [the] majority of Iranians, millions of Iranians, are very happy with the elimination of IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] terrorists and … nuclear facilities and military bases,” she emphasized during “Washington Watch” Tuesday. “They are sharing videos and films mocking them, and especially [last Friday] they shared their celebration [about] how much they are happy.”

Amirizadeh further insisted that a majority of Iranians support Reza Pahlavi, the crown prince of Iran who is currently in exile, to be reinstated as Iran’s leader after his family was ousted from power in 1979. “There is a high hope that Prince Pahlavi [be reinstated because the] Iranian people trusted him,” she explained. “[T]he regime sent their fake opposition … to mislead politicians and leaders [and] to create division among people that Iranians are not united. But many times during many protests, Iranians [have] called his name and ask[ed] for his return.”

Shariat and Amirizadeh also say that thousands of Iranians are converting to Christianity.

“Iranians are very open to the gospel,” Shariat shared. “… We are seeing thousands come to Christ. We have 1,200 converts [who have] contacted us, and we have had over 100,000 people that have contacted us. … There is a supernatural hunger [in] the people of Iran for the true God.”

Amirizadeh concurred. “[M]illions of people are coming to Christ, and the reason is that people are tired of this tyrannical regime living under the harsh rules of Islam for so many years. … [O]ut of 75,000 mosques, 55,000 of those mosques [have] closed. … When I was in Iran … I distributed 20,000 Bibles with my friend Mariam, and we evangelized thousands of people, and I could see how much Iranians are thirsty to come to Christ.”

“[M]y big prayer for Iran [is] that millions of Iranians come to Christ, give their hearts to Jesus,” Amirizadeh concluded. “Also, pray for people who are suffering right now to be courageous and to fight for their freedoms.”