TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday Israel would “finish the job” against Iran with US support adding that Israel and the United States are determined to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its “aggression” in the Middle East.
Speaking during a news conference with visiting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Netanyahu said they had held a “very productive discussion” on a number of issues, “none more important than Iran”.
“Over the last 16 months, Israel has dealt a mighty blow to Iran. Under the strong leadership of President (Donald) Trump and with your unflinching support, I have no doubt that we can and will finish the job,” Netanyahu said.
“Israel and America stand shoulder to shoulder in countering the threat of Iran,” he said. “We agreed that Iran must not have nuclear weapons and also agreed that Iran’s aggression in the region must be rolled back.”
After Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 2023 attack, Israel has launched a relentless bombardment campaign in Gaza and against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Trump’s maximum pressure policy
Netanyahu has welcomed the election of US President Donald Trump who has swiftly reinstated a “maximum pressure” policy against Iran, similar to the one pursued in the president’s first term, over allegations the country is seeking a nuclear weapons capability.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that Iran would never become a nuclear power, calling the Islamic Republic the “greatest” source of instability in the Middle East.
“There can never be a nuclear Iran, a nuclear Iran that could then hold itself immune from pressure and from action. That can never happen,” Rubio told the joint news conference with Netanyahu in Jerusalem, adding that Iran was the “single greatest source of instability in the region”.
Iran and Israel traded direct attacks last year for the first time against the backdrop of soaring regional tensions triggered by the Gaza war.
On October 26, Israel bombed military sites in Iran, killing four servicemen, in response to an October 1 barrage of about 200 missiles from Iran.
On April 13, Iran sent drones and missiles in Israel, in retaliation for a deadly April 1 attack on its Damascus consulate, blamed on Israel.
Israel likely to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities
US intelligence agencies recently warned both the Biden and Trump administrations that Israel will likely attempt to strike facilities key to Iran’s nuclear program this year, CNN reported.
Israel’s willingness to use military force runs counter to President Donald Trump’s current desire for a peace deal with Tehran, and the recent US intelligence cautions that major strikes on Iranian nuclear sites could increase the risk of a wider war breaking out in the Middle East.
Israel is also still pursuing the broader goal of causing regime change in Iran, CNN reported citing one of the recent US intelligence reports.
Trump proposes US takeover of Gaza
Trump this month proposed the US taking ownership of Gaza and moving Palestinians out of the devastated strip permanently, triggering a storm of protest.
“It may have shocked and surprised many,” Rubio said in reference to the plan, “but what cannot continue is the same cycle where we repeat over and over again and wind up in the exact same place.”
Heavy bombs shipment
Rubio’s trip coincided with the US sending a shipment of heavy bombs to Israel. The munitions were sent after Trump’s administration last month lifted a hold on the deliveries, Israel’s Ministry of Defence said Sunday.
Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said the shipment of MK-84 munitions “represents a significant asset for the Air Force and the IDF and serves as further evidence of the strong alliance between Israel and the United States,” in a statement from his ministry.
Former President Joe Biden had restricted the delivery of the 2,000-pound bombs out of concern they could be used indiscriminately by Israel’s military in densely populated areas of Gaza.
The head of Gaza’s Government Media Office Salama Maroof criticised the US decision to send the heavy bombs.
“Instead of sending food, medicine, water, or shelter and building materials to the victims in the Gaza Strip, even with a humanitarian motive, the United States of America, the first democracy in the world and a pioneer of human rights, as it describes itself, supports the criminal occupation army with 1,800 heavy MK bombs,” Maroof said.
