Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Iran was no longer the same after nearly two weeks of joint US-Israeli attacks and had suffered blows to its elite forces, as he appeared in his first press conference since the start of the war.
Netanyahu said he spoke with US President Donald Trump nearly every day and that the two men spoke "openly."
"We are aiming to stop Iran from moving nuclear and ballistic projects underground," he added.
Hezbollah is 'playing with fire'
Standing between two Israeli flags and taking questions via video link, Netanyahu vowed to keep hitting Lebanon's Hezbollah after the Iran-backed group opened fire on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader at the start of the war.
When asked about the possibility of military occupation of Lebanese territory, the prime minister said that he spoke to the Lebanese government and "told them, 'you're playing with fire.'"
"We will exact a heavy price from Hezbollah," he said, "and I hope Lebanon's government is [with] us."
Asked about Mojtaba Khamenei and Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem, Netanyahu said, "I wouldn’t issue life insurance policies on any of the leaders of the terrorist organization ... I don't intend to give an exact message here about what we are planning or what we are going to do."
The prime minister did not disclose whether or not Israel is arming Iranian protesters, but did say: "We can create conditions for regime change, but it is up to Iran's people to take to the streets."