Israel controls Tehran's skies, 'on the way' to achieve twin goals in Iran: Netanyahu

Jerusalem: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday claimed that Israel “controls the skies over Tehran” and said his country is “on the way” to achieving its goals of destroying the Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile threats.

Referring to freedom of movement in Tehran’s airspace, a point Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson Effie Defrin also made earlier in the day, Netanyahu, during a visit to the Tel Nof airbase in central Israel, said that “this is a change in the entire campaign”.

The Israeli military has said that it had destroyed over 120 surface-to-surface missile launchers that had been fired from Iran in overnight missions, and its aircraft now control the skies of Tehran.

Defence Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir accompanied Netanyahu during the visit.

“The Air Force controls the skies of Tehran. We are on our way to achieving our two objectives: eliminating the nuclear threat and eliminating the missile threat,” the Prime Minister said.

"We are on the path to victory, and this is being achieved. Thanks to our heroic pilots and our wonderful ground crews, who are also doing amazing work,” he said.

Netanyahu claimed that Israel is only hitting the targets of the Iranian regime, despite full freedom of movement in their skies, unlike Iran, which is "attacking Israeli "civilians".

“When we control the skies over Tehran, we are hitting these targets, the targets of the regime, unlike the criminal regime of Iran that targets our citizens and comes to kill children and women,” he said.

Israel, in contrast, is telling Tehran’s residents to “get out” while the Israeli Air Force strikes targets in the Iranian capital, Netanyahu claimed.

At least 24 Israelis have been killed and over 300 injured in attacks carried out by Iran since Friday.

According to the IDF, Tehran has fired 335 missiles, most of which were intercepted, and more than a hundred drones at Israel after the Jewish state launched a surprise attack on Friday, dubbed Operation Rising Lion.

Meanwhile, due to the ongoing conflict, war-time restrictions on the reporting of the events have been imposed.

The restrictions included news related to operations, targets for attack, specific operations for protection and security, damage to strategic facilities and military bases, as well as damage to operational capabilities and/or capability to provide essential services.