Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that when Israel bombed Iran in October, it destroyed part of Tehran’s nuclear program and reduced its defense and missile production capabilities, adding that the Islamic Republic was unable to acquire nuclear weapons. He told the Knesset that he had promised to prevent them from obtaining it.
In a wide-ranging foreign policy address to the plenary, he explained that “there are certain elements of their nuclear program that were attacked in this attack,” including the centrality of Iran and the He talked about the pursuit of nuclear weapons. Multi-pronged battle.
He did not specify the components, but added that despite the success of the missile, Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon has not yet been stopped.
On October 26, weeks after Iran fired a barrage of about 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, Israeli warplanes conducted three waves of strikes against Iranian military targets. This follows a previous attack and counterattack between Israel and Iran in April.
In his speech, Prime Minister Netanyahu provided a little more detail about what Israel targeted in the April attack. In the attack, the Israel Defense Forces destroyed one of four Russian-supplied S-300 surface-to-air missile defense squadrons near the Iranian capital, Tehran. said Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in October that Israel had destroyed three remaining artillery batteries, severely damaging Iran’s ballistic missile production capacity and its ability to produce solid fuel used in long-range ballistic missiles.
Israel is wary of the possibility of further attacks by Iran and is already planning a response. Among the measures the IDF could take if the Islamic Republic increases the intensity of its direct attacks on Israel is a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to potentially give Israel free rein to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, although US President Joe Biden has not supported such measures in the past.
At the end of the day, Prime Minister Netanyahu told the Knesset that Israel’s ability to thwart or destroy Iran’s nuclear program would be tested.
“If we don’t deal with (Iran’s) nuclear program, all the other problems will come back,” he said, adding that Iranian proxies could rearm and attack Israel again. He said this was the only way to prevent a flare-up in October. The Type 7 attack was to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
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“That’s why we’re so committed to doing it,” he said.
Earlier, he told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel’s ability to act against Iran’s nuclear program and other threats “will be tested in the near future with the next administration in Washington.” Ta.
During his speech to the plenary session of Congress, Prime Minister Netanyahu recalled how he and President Trump had been on the same page regarding Iran in conversations they had had since the Nov. 5 election.
“We didn’t talk about how to act. We didn’t talk about policy right now. We’ll have time for that once the president takes office. But I can say we’re in agreement on the Iranian threat. ”’ Prime Minister Netanyahu said.
He enumerated how he was trying to reconcile his great respect for the sitting president with differences in President Biden’s policies and hinted that he was prepared to ignore U.S. orders on Iran in the final months of Biden’s presidency. Ta.
“I will say ‘yes’ where possible and ‘no’ when necessary. That is our approach,” Netanyahu said.
In describing Israel’s multi-front war over the past 14 months, Netanyahu said the central enemy is Iran, which has “carved our destruction on its flag.”
The Iranian government’s power is based on three things: its proxy axis of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, and its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.
Prime Minister Netanyahu reflected on the history of Israel’s military decisions in war and how important it is for the Jewish state to maintain its ability to make independent decisions, even if it means opposing its closest ally, the United States. emphasized.
He thanked Biden for his strong support, including his arrival in Israel less than two weeks after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
“We must not forget that,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said.
deal with U.S. objections
But both he and his admirers opposed Israel’s strategic choices from the start, including something as fundamental as a ground operation in Gaza to destroy Hamas.
The Biden administration initially objected, but as the war progressed it threatened to halt arms shipments to Israel to thwart the IDF’s Operation Rafah.
Prime Minister Netanyahu recalled telling then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, “Tony, if we have to, we will fight with our claws.” “We will fight with our claws.”
He dismissed opposition to Operation Rafah, fearing that Israel would lose its independence as a country if it succumbed to US demands. ”
With each step forward, “we can’t do anything,” he says. “Every time we try to take a step, we are threatened with some kind of weapon being blocked, which is impossible.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
