Netanyahu threatens Iran, Hezbollah with unprecedented retaliation

• He vowed to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, saying his government would seek to eliminate the Iranian regime’s threat.
• Netanyahu cited US President Donald Trump’s support as a key factor ahead of the ‘Israeli’ election.

‘Israeli’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued stark warnings to Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Tuesday, vowing that any attack on ‘Israel’ would be answered with a blow “they have never dreamed of.”

Casting the coming election as a referendum on Iran, Netanyahu invoked remarks by US President Donald Trump, who, he said, had pinpointed the defining question facing voters: whether the Iranian threat will finally be eliminated, as Tehran works to revive its nuclear programme.

Netanyahu said Trump had described him as his only partner in an effort to end that threat “once and for all.” Appealing directly to the electorate to back his Likud party, he said: “Iran will not destroy us. We will destroy the Iranian regime, and as long as I am prime minister, Iran will not have nuclear weapons.”

The remarks came after a telephone call between the two leaders, in which they reaffirmed their close coordination and political alignment.

Netanyahu lavished praise on the American president, calling him “the greatest friend in the White House” and a leader whose courage had emboldened “an entire civilization.” The two men, he said, share a mission that remains to be completed.

Trump returned the compliments in kind. He described Netanyahu as a “great warrior” who had been treated unfairly, voiced confidence that the ‘Israeli’ leader was headed for a “great victory,” and said he had written his words of support himself, a gesture meant to underscore his personal backing.

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