Israel will not allow the Iranian regime to acquire nuclear weapons, Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a press conference responding to the initial U.S.-Iran agreement.
“With an agreement, without an agreement, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon,” Netanyahu declared on Monday afternoon. “Not today and not tomorrow. As long as I am prime minister of Israel, it will not happen.”
The press conference marked the Israeli Prime Minister’s first public appearance since President Donald Trump announced an initial U.S.-Iran deal early Monday.
Initial reports indicate that the agreement seeks to extend the current ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to international transit. The Iranian state media portrayed the agreement as a great victory, claiming that the U.S. would release $24 billion worth of frozen assets before a final deal is reached within the next 60 days.
Prime Minister Netanyahu highlighted the success of the joint U.S. Israeli strikes. He noted that prior to the operation Epic Fury, Tehran was “racing” towards a nuclear weapon. The five-week-long campaign eliminated the regime’s leadership and dismantled its nuclear infrastructure, the prime minister assured.
Israel will retain buffer zones created in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria to avert October 7-style attacks. “We established deep security zones around Israel, in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Syria. We will remain in the security zones as long as needed to defend our country,” he declared. “After October 7, I set a simple principle: Israel will not allow terror organizations to prepare for a massacre near our citizens.”
Ahead of the Prime Minister’s press appearance, Defense Minister Israel Katz assured that the military “will remain in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza — without any time limit — in order to protect Israel’s borders and communities from jihadist elements.”
The Times of Israel published an excerpt from the prime minister’s address:
“We launched the largest attack operation in Israel’s history. We targeted the nuclear scientists; we eliminated the leaders of the terror regime; we crushed the nuclear facilities; we destroyed missiles and the vast majority of the factories that produce missiles. We struck countless military industries and infrastructures. We destroyed their navy, their air force. We eliminated base commanders who massacred the Iranian people. We caused enormous damage — [some] estimate it in the hundreds of billions of dollars, some estimate it at even close to a trillion dollars — to Iran’s economy,” he says.“We removed from over us this danger of the elimination of Israel’s population for years to come. That is what we did. We saved the State of Israel from annihilation,” he says.He adds, however, that “the struggle is not over and complete. We will need to continue standing guard, continue being strong and determined, and defend ourselves as much as necessary.”“This is true not only against Iran,” he says, saying Israel’s fight will continue against “Iran’s terror arms” as well, as he says it has been doing against groups in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and the West Bank.Amid concerns over US limitations on Israeli freedom of action, Netanyahu adds that in addition to fighting terror groups in those areas, “we established deep security zones around Israel… in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Syria,” and stresses that “we will remain in the security zones for as long as necessary to protect our country.”
Following his address, Netanyahu told reporters that he intends to run for a seventh term as prime minister.
The Jerusalem Post reported his brief interaction with the press:
During the question and answer session following his speech, Netanyahu said that Israel is at the forefront of developing a solution to the threat of first-person view drones.When responding to a question about whether he was right to launch Operation Roaring Lion on February 28, Netanyahu denied that one of the objectives was to overthrow Iran’s Islamic regime.Netanyahu also said he is planning to run again in the upcoming elections, adding that he is “going to win.”
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY