Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted that the IDF would hit Iranian oil fields should Tehran make good on its threat to launch another ballistic missile attack on Israel.
“Another attack on Israel would simply cripple Iran’s economy,” Netanyahu said in an unusual English-language message he directed at the Iranian people.
His words, however, were also a sharply worded warning to the Islamic Republic, which is weighing a counterattack against Israel.
The Biden administration had warned Israel prior to its October attack on Iran not to escalate the situation by hitting Iranian oil fields or its nuclear faculties.
It is believed that President-elect Donald Trump would not oppose such a step. Netanyahu has already spoken three times with Trump since the incoming Republican president was elected last Tuesday.
A special message from me to the Iranian people: there’s one thing Khamenei’s regime fears more than Israel. It’s you — the people of Iran. Don’t lose hope.پیام ویژهای از من برای مردم ایران: یک چیز هست که رژیم خامنهای بیش از اسرائیل از آن میترسد. آن شما هستید — مردم ایران.… pic.twitter.com/iADxSjNXCs
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) November 12, 2024
'I know you don't want this war'
“We see eye-to-eye on Iran,” Netanyahu said earlier this week in describing the conversations.
On Tuesday, he said, an Iranian attack on Israel “would rob you of many more billions of dollars.” The kind of economic devastation he described would be akin to what could happen if Israel did target the Iranian oil fields.
Netanyahu issued his statement just as President Isaac Herzog was set to meet with US President Joe Biden at the White House, his third such visit since 2022. Biden has hosted Netanyahu only once.
Herzog’s visit comes amid a transition of power in both Washington and Jerusalem, with Trump set to re-enter the White House in January and Israel Katz, replacing Yoav Gallant as defense minster. Gideon Sa’ar has stepped into Katz’s former role as foreign minister.
In an appeal to the Iranian people to work together with Israel for a better regional future, Netanyahu said, “I know that you don’t want this war. I don’t want this war either. The people of Israel don’t want this war. There is one force putting your family in grave danger: the tyrants of Tehran. That’s it.”
The Islamic Republic’s last attack on Israel, he said, cost the country “$2.3 billion,” he said, adding “I’m not guessing.”
Herzog highlighted the danger of Iran in his meeting with Biden, as he stressed the importance of a deal to ensure the return of the remaining 101 hostages in Gaza.
He linked that deal with Israel’s war with Iran.
“It all starts in Tehran. It all starts in the empire of evil, where Tehran with its proxies, they’re doing whatever they can to erase stability and security and peace, calling for the annihilation of the State of Israel and seeking nuclear weapons.”
He spoke as Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer was in Washington for talks on a potential deal between the IDF and Hezbollah along Israel’s northern front.
Israel and the United States have been hopeful that a deal could be in the offing with Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy group, but despite an intense flurry of diplomatic activity, no deal has been reached.
Dermer and Blinken discussed such efforts when the two men met on Monday. After his White House meeting on Tuesday, Herzog hinted that there could be progress soon in speaking with reporters.
Defense Minister Katz, however, wrote on X that “there will be no ceasefire in Lebanon and no respite. We will continue to hit Hezbollah with full force until the goals of the war are achieved.
“Israel will not agree to any arrangement that does not guarantee Israel’s right to enforce and prevent terrorism on its own, and meeting the goals of the war in Lebanon, disarming Hezbollah and withdrawing them beyond the Litani River and returning the residents of the north safely to their homes,” Katz said.