Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a statement to the media Tuesday night, hours after the ceasefire with Iran took effect, and following his confrontation with U.S. President Donald Trump—who urged Israel not to retaliate for Iran’s violation of the agreement.
“In the 12 days of Operation Rising Lion we achieved a historic victory, and this victory will be remembered for generations,” Netanyahu said as he opened his remarks. “We have removed two immediate existential threats to us - the threat of nuclear annihilation and the threat of annihilation by 20,000 ballistic missiles. Had we not acted now, the State of Israel would have soon faced the danger of annihilation.”
Netanyahu said that the “opening strike of Operation Rising Lion will be recorded in the annals of Israel’s wars and studied in armies worldwide. In a single blow, we eliminated Iran’s senior command, including three chiefs of staff and other senior figures. We eliminated the senior nuclear scientists who led the nuclear program and sought to bring destruction and death upon us, we destroyed the enrichment facility in Natanz, the conversion facility in Isfahan, and the heavy water plant in Arak.”
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the nation hours after the start of the ceasefire
(Photo: GPO)
“At (President Donald) Trump’s direction, the U.S. military destroyed the Fordow facility. We attacked dozens more sites, including centrifuge production labs and factories,” Netanyahu stated.“We completed the mission and struck the entire archive which held Iran’s knowledge to build an atomic bomb. All the actions taken by our fighters have torpedoed Iran’s nuclear program."
“If someone, if someone in Iran tries to restore that program, we will act with the same determination, the same power, to cut off any such attempt,” he said. “I repeat – Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.”
Netanyahu asserted that “Iran’s intention to threaten Israel with tens of thousands of ballistic missiles has also been removed. We destroyed command centers, attacked Revolutionary Guard bases, Basij bases, and symbolic seats of power. Early this morning—just hours before the ceasefire—we dealt the regime of the Ayatollahs its hardest blow ever—the hardest blow in its history. We eliminated hundreds of regime operatives in the most crushing attack Tehran has seen in 50 years.”
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Touching upon the tense phone call with Trump just hours earlier, Netanyahu thanked him for his support in the war that led to its end. “On your behalf, I thank my friend President Trump and the United States for his part in defending Israel, and removing the Iranian nuclear threat,” he said. “The U.S. involvement was not just defensive—for Israel, this is a historic event; it’s never happened before. “Israel has never had a friend like President Trump in the White House, and I thank him greatly for our joint work.”
Although the operation was successful, Netanyahu cautioned: “We are neither arrogant nor complacent—quite the opposite,” and turned to the Gaza arena. “We must defeat Hamas and bring back the hostages. To the families of the hostages, I say we never paused—not even during the war—in our efforts to bring all of our hostages home, and we will not relent from this sacred mission until it is complete.”
Trump announced overnight that Israel and Iran had agreed to a ceasefire that took effect at 7:00 a.m. A little over two hours later, the Israeli government officially declared: “Israel has removed from itself a dual immediate existential threat—both nuclear and ballistic missile-based.”
Trump talks about the ceasefire and his anger at Netanyahu
Iran responded that it would retaliate, and the IDF chief and defense minister stated that Israel would respond. Trump refused to blame Iran for violating the ceasefire: “I’m not happy with either side, especially not with Israel. Both countries violated the ceasefire. I didn’t like that Israel ‘emptied a magazine’ after the announcement,” the president said before boarding Air Force One en route to the NATO summit in the Netherlands.
He added on his social network: “Do not drop those bombs. If you do it is a major violation. Bring your pilots home now.” Trump continued: “Israel must calm down. I have to make that happen. I’ll see if I can make it happen.”
The U.S. president also held a tense conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu, literally halting an Israeli strike on Tehran. Netanyahu convinced Trump to agree to a symbolic response—targeting only an Iranian radar—and all the “friendly” aircraft, as Trump called them, turned around and returned home.<< Follow Ynetnews on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Telegram >>