Netanyahu says Israel close to meeting its goals in Iran
ISRAEL is very close to completing its goal of removing the dual threats of Iran's ballistic missiles and nuclear programme, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.
He promised not to let Israel be dragged into a war of attrition but also said he would not end the Iran campaign prematurely.
'We won't pursue our actions beyond what is needed to achieve them, but we also won't finish too soon. When the objectives are achieved, then the operation is complete and the fighting will stop,' he told Israeli reporters.
'I have no doubt that this is a regime that wants to wipe us out, and that's why we embarked on this operation to eliminate the two concrete threats to our existence: the nuclear threat, the ballistic missile threat. We are moving step by step towards achieving these goals. We are very, very close to completing them,' he said.
He said Iran's Fordow nuclear site had been very badly damaged by US bunker-buster bombs overnight but the extent of damage remained to be seen. Tehran has vowed to defend itself at all costs.
Asked about the whereabouts of Iran's 60 per cent enriched uranium, Netanyahu said: 'We've been following that very closely. I can tell you that it's an important component of a nuclear programme.
'It's not the sole component. It's not a sufficient component. But it is an important component and we have interesting intel on that, which you will excuse me if I don't share with you,' he said.
At least until Israel's first strikes against its enrichment installations on June 13, Iran was refining uranium to up to 60 per cent purity, a short step from the roughly 90 per cent that is bomb-grade and far higher than the 3.67 per cent cap imposed by a 2015 nuclear deal, which Iran respected until the year after US President Donald Trump pulled out in 2018. REUTERS
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Straits Times
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- Straits Times
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A number of US bases are within range of Iran's short-range weapons. PHOTO: REUTERS Follow our live coverage here. WASHINGTON – Iran vowed to retaliate against American bases in the region even before the United States attacked its nuclear sites on June 21 , and US intelligence agencies have long warned that the military should prepare for such a response. While Iran will likely attempt a fierce barrage, US and Israeli officials said before the attacks on June 21 that Israel's strikes in recent days had severely damaged Iran's ability to mount attacks, wiping out launchers and damaging military bases. In more than a week of fighting before the US attacks, the Israeli air force struck Iranian missile launchers and launch teams, and Iran depleted its stockpile of medium-range missiles, according to US and Israeli officials. In an address from the White House on June 21 , President Donald Trump warned Iran against further actions, and demanded that Tehran 'make peace.' 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Business Times
2 hours ago
- Business Times
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AsiaOne
2 hours ago
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Earlier, Iran fired missiles that wounded scores of people and flattened buildings in Tel Aviv. The US Department of Homeland Security warned of a "heightened threat environment" in America, citing the possibility of cyber attacks or targeted violence. Law enforcement in major US cities stepped up patrols with a focus on religious, cultural and diplomatic sites. The US State Department issued a security alert for all US citizens abroad that warned of the potential for demonstrations against Americans and travel disruptions due to closed airspace across the Middle East, calling on them to "exercise increased caution." Tehran has so far not followed through on its threats of retaliation against the United States — either by targeting US bases or trying to choke off global oil supplies — but that may not hold. Speaking in Istanbul, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said his country would consider all possible responses. There would be no return to diplomacy until it had retaliated, he said. "The US showed they have no respect for international law. They only understand the language of threat and force," he said. Trump, in a televised address, called the strikes "a spectacular military success" and boasted that Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities had been "completely and totally obliterated." Commercial satellite imagery indicated the US attack on Iran's subterranean Fordow nuclear plant severely damaged or destroyed the deeply-buried site and the uranium-enriching centrifuges it housed, but the status of the site remained unconfirmed, experts said. The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said no increases in off-site radiation levels had been reported after the US strikes. Rafael Grossi, the agency's director general, told CNN that it was not yet possible to assess the damage done underground. 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"This mission was not and has not been about regime change," Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon, calling the mission "a precision operation" targeting Iran's nuclear programme. Anti-war activists organised demonstrations on Sunday in New York, Washington and other US cities, with signs carrying messages such as "hands off Iran." Meanwhile, some Iranians said they feared the prospect of an enlarged conflict involving the US "Our future is dark. We have nowhere to go — it's like living in a horror movie," Bita, 36, a teacher from the central city of Kashan, said before the phone line was cut. Much of Tehran, a capital city of 10 million people, has emptied out, with residents fleeing to the countryside to escape Israeli bombardment. Iranian authorities say more than 400 people have been killed since Israel's attacks began, mostly civilians. Israel's bombardment has decimated much of Iran's military leadership with strikes targeted at bases and residential buildings where senior figures slept. Iran has been launching missiles back at Israel, killing at least 24 people over the past nine days. Air raid sirens sounded across most of Israel on Sunday, sending millions of people to safe rooms. In Tel Aviv, Aviad Chernovsky, 40, emerged from a bomb shelter to find his house had been destroyed in a direct hit. "It's not easy to live now in Israel (right now), but we are very strong," he said. "We know that we will win." [[nid:719352]]
