Israel’s new ambassador to Washington, Dr. Yechiel Leiter, used a string of high-profile American TV interviews on Friday to frame Jerusalem’s overnight strikes on Iran as an existential act of self-defence and to signal that the operation will not end until Tehran’s uranium-enrichment network is destroyed. 

Appearing first on Fox News’s Special Report, Leiter declared that Israel was “fighting for its life” and had decided to “cut off the head of the snake” rather than merely parry Iran’s proxies. In the six-minute segment with anchor Bret Baier he thanked the United States for missile-defence assistance but stressed that Israeli pilots—and not US forces—were carrying out the offensive strikes.

Minutes later he told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that three salvos of about 150 Iranian ballistic missiles had been fired at Israel during the day, killing one woman and injuring some 40 people. “We expect the barrages to continue,” the envoy warned, accusing Iran of deliberately targeting civilians and vowing that Israel would assess the full damage to Iranian nuclear sites “in four or five days, once the campaign is complete.”

On PBS NewsHour Leiter repeated that Iran’s program posed an “existential threat,” citing a scathing International Atomic Energy Agency report and asserting that intelligence showed Tehran “racing” toward weaponisation. He insisted regime change was “for Iranians to decide,” saying Israel’s immediate objective was to eliminate the enrichment facilities at Natanz and Fordow and thereby force Iran to choose talks over total loss of its arsenal. 

Throughout the day the ambassador underscored a clear division of labour: Washington would supply defensive cover and diplomatic backing while Israel executed offensive sorties. The message, aimed at American audiences as much as at Tehran, is designed to keep the White House onside while reassuring US viewers that no American combat troops are being drawn into the fight.

Leiter’s tour is set to continue on Sunday when he leads the guest line-up on ABC’s This Week alongside Senator Alex Padilla and former CENTCOM commander Gen. Joseph Votel—indicating that Jerusalem intends to hold the US media spotlight as the operation unfolds.