Netanyahu: U.S. acting against Iran economically, Israel militarily

“This is happening in Syria against Iran's efforts to militarily entrench itself here” he said. “This is also happening on the border with Lebanon.”

By HERB KEINON
Updated: JANUARY 4, 2019 21:55
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a news conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil December 30, 2018 (photo credit: TANIA REGO/COURTESY OF AGENCIA BRASIL/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a news conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil December 30, 2018
(photo credit: TANIA REGO/COURTESY OF AGENCIA BRASIL/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)
A day after US President Donald Trump said that “Iran can do what they want” in Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made clear that this is not exactly the case, and that Israel continues to take action against Iran’s effort to entrench themselves there.
During an address to cadets of the IDF’s officers course at a Bar-Ilan University symposium in honor of  IDF commando Emmanuel Moreno who was killed during the Second Lebanon War, Netanyahu said that Israel acts with determination against all those trying to endanger it.
“This is happening in Syria against Iran’s efforts to militarily entrench itself here,” he said. “This is also happening on the border with Lebanon.”
Trump, at the end of a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, had said that Iran is “pulling people out of Syria, but they can do what they want there, frankly.” He said that Iran has suffered under the renewed sanctions imposed since he pulled out of the Iranian nuclear deal in May.
“The biggest threat from Iran is the threat of nuclear weapons in the hands of a power that declares that we have to be wiped off the map,” Netanyahu said. “I insisted on a renewal of sanctions against Iran, and President Trump took the courageous decision to renew them.”
Trump, Netanyahu said, is acting against on Iran on the economic front, “and we, here in Israel, are acting against Iran on the military level.”