Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a stern warning to Iran’s Ayatollah regime on Saturday, stating that those who target Israel will face “consequences.” He emphasized that “there is no place in Iran or the Middle East that the long arm of Israel cannot reach,” in response to the killing of Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike.
Netanyahu remarked, “If someone rises up to kill you, kill him first. Yesterday, the State of Israel eliminated the arch-murderer Hassan Nasrallah,” asserting that Israel had “settled accounts” with Nasrallah for his alleged involvement in the deaths of numerous Israelis and citizens from other nations, including the U.S. and France.
He referred to Nasrallah as “the terrorist,” labeling him not just as another terrorist but as the “main engine of Iran’s axis of evil” in the region. Netanyahu accused Nasrallah of being one of the principal architects of the Iranian regime’s plan to “destroy” Israel.
In his speech, Netanyahu sought to frame the Islamic regime and its allies as anti-people, stating, “All those who oppose the axis of evil, all those who are fighting under the violent dictatorship of Iran and its proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iran itself, and other places, are all filled with hope today. I say to the citizens of those countries: Israel stands with you. And to the Ayatollah regime I say: Those who strike us, we strike them. You now know there is no place in Iran or the Middle East that we cannot reach.”
Regarding the rationale for killing Nasrallah, Netanyahu argued that it was crucial for enabling Israeli citizens to safely return to their homes along the northern border with Lebanon and for shifting the “balance of power” in the region for “years” to come.
He reiterated Israel’s commitment to “defend” its citizens and secure the release of all hostages. “We are determined to continue striking our enemies, to bring our residents back home, and to return all our hostages. We do not forget them even for a moment,” he stated.
Netanyahu added that Nasrallah’s elimination would prevent him from quickly rebuilding Hezbollah’s capabilities, thus advancing the return of Israeli residents to the north and facilitating the release of hostages in the south. He expressed gratitude to the Israeli Armed Forces and intelligence agencies for their “great achievements.”