Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel and the United States had launched a joint military strike on Iran, declaring that Jerusalem would not allow Tehran to rebuild its nuclear and missile capabilities.
“My brothers and sisters, citizens of Israel, a short time ago Israel and the United States embarked on a joint campaign,” Netanyahu said in a televised address. “We will not sit idly by when the shadow of annihilation hovers over us.”
He said the Israel Defense Forces were striking targets belonging to Iran’s ruling regime, including facilities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Basij militia, alongside ballistic missile sites that threaten both Israel and U.S. forces in the region.
“The goal is to put an end to the threat from the ayatollah regime,” he said, adding that the campaign would continue “as long as necessary.”
Netanyahu accused Iran of calling for the destruction of Israel and the United States for nearly five decades, spreading terrorism across the Middle East and investing heavily in developing nuclear weapons and tens of thousands of missiles intended, in its words, to “wipe Israel off the map.”
He said Iran had armed terrorist proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Judea and Samaria, and warned that in recent months Tehran had sought to rebuild and conceal nuclear and missile infrastructure underground to shield it from attack.
“If we do not stop them now, they will become immune,” he said. “The risk of not acting is immeasurably greater.”
Netanyahu argued that failure to strike would result in “a nuclear Iran, an Iran with tens of thousands of ballistic missiles, an Iran that seeks to destroy us and would be immune to our counteractions.”
He acknowledged that the campaign would carry costs.
“There will be prices, and perhaps heavy prices,” he said. “Every military action carries risk. But as a people that seeks life, we have no choice but to go into battle.”
Netanyahu emphasized that the strike was being conducted in full coordination with Washington under President Donald Trump.
“Together with the United States, we will strike hard at the terror regime and create conditions that will allow the brave Iranian people to cast off the yoke of this murderous regime,” he said.
Addressing the Iranian public directly, Netanyahu said, “You are not our enemies, and we are not your enemies. We have a common enemy: the murderous cult of the ayatollahs.”
He urged members of Iran’s security forces to lay down their weapons and told the Iranian people that “this is your opportunity to establish a new and free Iran.”
Netanyahu thanked Trump, calling him “a determined leader of the free world,” and praised the IDF, intelligence services and security forces.
“A whole nation stands behind you,” he said. “A whole nation prays for your success.”
Drawing a parallel to the upcoming Purim holiday, which commemorates the defeat of a plot to annihilate the Jewish people in ancient Persia, Netanyahu said, “The lot has fallen, and the end of the evil regime will fall as well.”
He concluded by quoting the prophet Amos: “The lion has roared, who will not fear?”