Middle East Monitor / December 11, 2019
Israeli foreign minister, Yisrael Katz, threatened on Tuesday to take military action against Iran, in order to undermine its efforts in obtaining nuclear weapons, Israeli media reported.
According to Haaretz, Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper posed the question to Katz, “is bombing Iran an option that Israel is considering?”
Katz’s response to this was “yes, it is an option. We will not allow Iran to produce or obtain nuclear weapons. If it were the last possible way to stop this, we would act militarily.”
Katz asserted that Iran is not familiar with the reality of Israel, stating that “the Iranians have no idea who they’re dealing with. If they realized that 1,000 Tomahawk missiles could be fired at them, they would behave differently. We know that there is no real threat to the regime itself.”
Meanwhile, he also warned Iran that “Israel is not the helpless protesters being slaughtered by the ayatollah regime in Iran and Iraq. We will be able to respond forcefully to any threat or attack.”
Meanwhile, Haaretz reported the Israeli minister criticising European countries for not supporting US president, Donald Trump, who withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
“As long as the Iranians delude themselves into thinking they have Europe’s backing, it will be more difficult for them to back down.”
Katz also criticised Hezbollah secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, claiming that he is an Iranian proxy, and not a defender of Lebanese interests.
These remarks likely came in response to threats made by senior Iranian official, Morteza Ghorbani, who announced on Monday that “if Israel makes a mistake, even the smallest one, against Iran, we will flatten Tel Aviv into dirt from Lebanon.”
