Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tuesday that “all bets are off” if Iran threatens to resume attacks against the Jewish State.
“They have to choose,” Netanyahu said of the direction the Iranian regime should go in following the obliteration of their nuclear capabilities during the 12-Day War this summer.
“Look, we don’t seek escalation,” the Israeli prime minister told Fox News “Special Report” host Bret Baier. “I hope they don’t, but if they do, all bets are off.”
Netanyahu claimed that Iran has gone back to manufacturing ballistic missiles and is “trying” to restart its nuclear program in the aftermath of the June airstrikes carried out by the US and Israel.
“I’m not sure they’ve decided to cross that line,” he said of Iran resuming uranium enrichment, “because I think they heed President Trump’s warnings, and also because they’ve just experienced something, you know, less than a year ago … they saw what it entails.”
Netanyahu also revealed that he recently received a report that Iran was practicing for potential missile launches against Israel, and warned the consequences of carrying out such an attack would be “devastating.”
“I was presented a few days ago, actually, two weeks ago, with the prospect that they’re having field exercises in which they’re practicing launching ballistic missiles at Israel,” he said.
Netanyahu continued, “So I passed a message … I said, ‘If you dare do that, you know the results would be devastating.’”
“So I hope Iran doesn’t make that mistake.”
President Trump issued a similar warning to the US adversary on Monday, just ahead of a meeting with Netanyahu in Palm Beach, Fla.
“I hear that Iran is trying to build up [nuclear capabilities] again, and if they are, we’re gonna have to knock them down. We’ll knock them down. We’ll knock the hell out of them,” Trump said from his Mar-a-Lago club.
“But hopefully that’s not happening. I heard Iran wants to make a deal. They want to make a deal — that’s much smarter,” the president added.
Trump noted that he would support Israeli strikes against Iran to take out ballistic missile production facilities, even if Tehran is not resuming its nuclear program.
“If they will continue with missiles? Yes. If nuclear, fast. Okay? One will be ‘yes, absolutely,’ the other was, ‘we’ll do it immediately,’” Trump told reporters.
Last week, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian declared his nation was in a “total war” with the US, Israel and Europe.
“They want to bring our country to its knees,” Pezeshkian argued.
