Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday evening that there was “still more to do” in Iran as US and Iranian negotiators met in Islamabad to discuss a potential ceasefire.
“The campaign is not over yet. Iran wanted to eliminate us. Now it is fighting to survive. We still have more to do. We were the first to break the barrier of fear to act in Iran. I remember the excitement, the pride.”
He added that “the Iranian regime is begging for a ceasefire; there are internal conflicts among the leadership there. They have a missile stockpile that is steadily being depleted. We had a goal to weaken the Iranian regime to its lowest level since 1979. I am listing the many targets we eliminated – the steel industry, gas production, fuels, bridges, and railways.”
“If not for Operations Rising Lion and Roaring Lion, Iran would already have had nuclear bombs; we prevented that,” he said, adding, “before Operation Rising Lion, this time, precise real-time intelligence reached me; we eliminated 12 nuclear scientists and struck the nuclear facilities,” he said.
“Then, real-time intelligence reached me regarding Khamenei’s initiative to renew missile production and the nuclear program underground. In Operation Roaring Lion, we eliminated eight nuclear scientists, and Iran today has no active enrichment facility.”
Israel gains strength in region
In other parts of his address, the prime minister claimed that Israel had quickly become the strongest power in the region.
“Many other countries are approaching us; strength brings others closer. Israel, small in territory but immense in spirit and determination, has become the strongest regional power and even a global power,” he said.
“There has been a tremendous change thanks to our pilots and aircrews. We still have more to do. As a result of our strength, Lebanon approached me over the past month to hold direct negotiations, which has never happened before, and I approved it, conditional on Hezbollah’s disarmament and a real peace agreement,” Netanyahu said.