Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that he has ordered the Israel Defense Forces, the Mossad and the country’s other security services to work toward bringing down Iran’s regime, calling it the only way to end the nuclear threat from Tehran for good.
Netanyahu made the remarks at a graduation ceremony for IDF officers, as reported by Jewish News Syndicate and published by the New York Post.
“There is only one way to remove this threat once and for all: overthrow the regime in Iran. And that is my directive to the IDF, the Mossad and the security branches,” Netanyahu said. “As long as they are here, as long as they strive to acquire horrific weapons, the State of Israel faces an existential threat.”
According to Netanyahu, Iran restarted its nuclear program after Operation Rising Lion and tried to hide it deep inside a mountain. That, he said, is what triggered the joint Israeli-U.S. Operation Roaring Lion, which killed Ali Khamenei in its opening strike.
He accused Ali Khamenei’s son and successor, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who took power after Israel killed his father on Feb. 28, of picking up where the old man left off. “He has pulled the safety pin, and Iran is attempting once again to develop the bombs of death,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu also claimed that President Trump supports toppling the regime, citing him: “We are ready to finish the job.” According to Netanyahu, Trump would only do it together with Israel.
“We will eliminate the head of the octopus, and we will also finally sever its arms, the remainder of its arms, we will eliminate Hamas and eliminate Hezbollah,” the prime minister said. He told the new officers that bringing down the regime is “now also your mission.”
Defense Minister Israel Katz, speaking at the same ceremony, said “Iran will burn” if Tehran launches an attack. He said Tehran and its proxies are trying to stage terror attacks to sway Israel’s Oct. 27 Knesset elections.
“The Iranian regime is at its weakest point ever, and we identify that this weakness could lead it to take the most extreme steps, including against the State of Israel,” Katz said. Anyone who strikes Israel “before the elections or after them,” he added, “will pay the heaviest price.”
Trump celebrated the strikes on Iran in remarks posted Wednesday by the White House’s Rapid Response 47 account. “I think it’s one of the greatest things that we’ve done—we’ve stopped Iran from having a nuclear weapon,” he said. “It took a lot of courage to do it because no other president was willing to do it.”
Talking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews before boarding Air Force One, Trump first said talks with Iran were continuing “a little bit,” then said something different. “We are not negotiating with [Iran]. We are gonna have something one way or the other. It’ll happen fairly soon,” he said. “Most people seem to think it’s after the election; we’re gonna see what happens.”
Source: nypost.com
