Iran’s ballistic and atomic missile program has been set years back from Israel’s operations over the last four days, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said Tuesday.
In light of Tuesday’s threats from Abdolrahim Mousavi, the chief of staff of Iran's Armed Forces, who warned residents in Tel Aviv and Haifa to evacuate ahead of a “punitive operation” by Iran, Danon said "we have been hearing those threats for decades. We are, you know, on high alert. Rockets that flew to Israel in the last hour, thank God there are no casualties this time. But, you know, people are ready. We knew it wasn't going to be easy. But look what we have achieved in the last four days. We pushed Iran back, years back, with atomic plans, with ballistic missiles. So I think we should be very proud of the achievement of Israel in the last few days. But it's not over yet. We have more to do.”
Israeli planes have, based on intelligence, taken out Iran’s air defense systems and radars. In addition, Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, has been able to use sabotage operations to knock out ballistic missile launchers and air defenses.
“We have capabilities. We have a lot of intelligence. And the fact that today, you know, we fly over Tehran and we can choose our targets? That's amazing,” Danon stated.
In response to the question of whether Israel has been able to weaken Iran’s military and to what degree, Danon said that “Iran is a huge state. You know, look at the numbers. You have 9 million Israelis compared to 90 million Iranians. Iran is huge. ... Compare Cuba to the U.S. You know, it's a tiny country dealing with a strong nation, a big one," Danon said. "But we have the advantage of technology and the commitment of our pilots. And that's why we have a great achievement. So yes, we pushed them back, but we still have more to do.”
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On Wednesday, President Trump declined to say if the U.S. is planning to get involved in the war by striking Iran or its nuclear facilities, but added that, even though Iran has reached out, he feels that “it’s very late to be talking.”
"You don't know that I'm going to even do it. You don't know. I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do. I can tell you this, that Iran's got a lot of trouble and they want to negotiate. And I say, ‘Why didn't you negotiate with me before all this death and destruction?’” Trump told reporters. “For 40 years they've been saying death to America, death to Israel, death to anybody else that they didn't like. They were bullies. They were schoolyard bullies. And now they're not bullies anymore. But we'll see what happens. I wouldn't say that we won anything yet. I would say that we sure as hell made a lot of progress.”
Trump’s statement comes after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that Iran won’t listen to Trump's call for unconditional surrender.
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