Israeli Defense Minister Makes War Threat against Iran during Egypt TV Interview

Feb. 1 , 2021 (EIRNS)—Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz warned in an interview broadcast on Egyptian TV on Jan. 31 that Israel will attack Iran’s nuclear program if it’s deemed necessary. “Israel has a clear objective: that Iran not be nuclear. It is not just an Israeli interest. It is first and foremost a global and regional interest,” he said, reported the Times of Israel. “The IDF and Israel’s defense establishment are holding onto the option of taking action against Iran’s nuclear project if that is what has to be done,” he said, according to quotes from the interview provided by his office. “I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“A nuclear Iran would lead to a nuclear arms race throughout the Middle East. The regime is fundamentalist and radical and ultimately wants to obtain nuclear capability not just to have it, but primarily for the leverage it would give them in nuclear deterrence,” Gantz told Egypt’s Alghad TV. “I want the public in Iran to understand me: I don’t have anything against them. Iranian citizens deserve a normal life like every other human being. But the regime’s support of terrorism, of Hezbollah, of the Houthis demands action,” he said.

The interview, which was reportedly recorded some days ago, and reportedly was broadcast a few hours after Gantz, accompanied by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi, paid a visit to the headquarters of the Depth Corps, a formation established in 2012 by Gantz himself when he was IDF chief of staff to be responsible for long-range operations well beyond Israel’s borders, meaning principally Iran. The visit, itself, is being characterized as a “veiled threat” to Iran.