Campaign against Iran not over, existential threats removed: Netanyahu

Jerusalem: Claiming "historic achievements" in the fight against Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement on Saturday that the "campaign is not yet over," but Israel managed to foil Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"The campaign against Iran is not over, we still have more to do. But even now it can be clearly stated that we have historic achievements," Netanyahu said in the video in Hebrew.

"We went into the campaign because Iran was very close to nuclear weapons and the capability to produce hundreds of missiles per day. Two existential threats that we had to remove from over our heads," the Israeli Prime Minister asserted.

"Khamenei wanted to conceal the production of missiles and the nuclear programme deep underground in such a way that even B-2 aircraft wouldn’t have been able to reach it. We could not stand idly by," he claimed.

Amid questions about the fate of more than 400 Kilograms of enriched uranium still lying in Iran, the Israeli leader reiterated that it will be removed from the Islamic Republic through diplomatic process or by use of force.

Moving to a map of the West Asia with the Iranian axis highlighted in red soon after the start of his video statement, Netanyahu said, “they wanted to strangle us, and we are strangling them.” “We hit them, we still have more to do,” he stressed.

The statement came while US and Iranian negotiators are meeting in Islamabad to discuss a potential ceasefire.

The Israeli leader repeated that he spent much of his life ensuring that Iran won’t achieve nuclear weapons, including by approving covert operations to delay it and also informing the world of the danger.

“But the world wouldn’t hear,” he said adding, Israel “broke the barrier of fear” by striking Iran last June.

Applauding the support received from Israeli citizens, Netanyahu said that Iran has been weakened and is "begging for a ceasefire".

"This is reflected in internal conflicts at the top, we know about this. We see the growing difficulty (in Iran) in meeting the needs of citizens. This is reflected in the profound weakening of the terror regime. Iran is no longer the same Iran", he claimed stressing that Israel has emerged stronger in the process.

"Those who threatened to destroy us are now fighting for their own survival," the Israeli Premier asserted.

He also claimed major achievemnets on other fronts that posed threat to Israel - Syria, Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

"As a result of the strength we showed, Lebanon reached out several times in the past month to begin direct peace talks. I approved this subject to two conditions: we want to achieve the disarmament of Hezbollah and we want a real peace agreement that will last for generations," Netanyahu said.

"We have created a security zone of between 8-10 km. We are fighting Hezbollah because we are determined, I am determined, to restore security to the residents of the north - they deserve it like all citizens of Israel," he said.

The Israeli leader accused Hezbollah of planning a covert operation to "invade and conquer the Galilee.” As per local media reports, Israel and Lebanon are going to hold talks in the US next week even though Israel insists on carrying on with its military operations against Hezbollah.

Netanyahu also hinted at resuming fighting against Hamas in Gaza.