Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel would continue its war with Iran “with all our force,” and alongside the United States had gained near-total control of the skies over Tehran after a week of strikes.
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“We have a systematic plan to eradicate the Iranian regime and achieve many other objectives,” Netanyahu said in a televised address.
Israel and the United States launched the war against Iran with strikes on Tehran last Saturday that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“Citizens, you are telling me, the government, and our heroic soldiers to continue until victory, and I thank you. I can assure you that we will continue with all our force,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli leader said that thanks to the bombing campaign by Israeli and American pilots, “we have gained almost complete control of the airspace” over Iran’s capital.
Speaking to the Iranian people, he said the “moment of truth” was coming as Israel was seeking to help liberate them from the “yoke of tyranny”.
He said that Israel had managed to “transform the Middle East” and shift the balance of power in the region.
Israel’s military said earlier that it had carried out around 3,400 strikes on Iran during the first week of the war, dropping roughly 7,500 munitions.
Meanwhile, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts said on Saturday that the body would meet within a day to choose the country’s next supreme leader, Iranian media reported.
“With divine assistance, this session will occur within the next twenty-four hours,” said Hossein Mozafari, one of the assembly’s 88 members, cited by the Fars news agency.
The statement came a week after the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a US-Israeli attack.
Mozafari also urged Iranians to “refrain from any speculation and the spreading of rumours regarding this matter” as the assembly has not yet convened for a session.
But the United States on Saturday condemned Iran’s drone strikes earlier this week on an Azerbaijan border region, describing the attack as a “needless escalation” of aggression by Tehran during the Middle East war.
The State Department said Thursday’s “unprovoked drone attack” targeted an airport and school in Azerbaijan’s exclave of Nakhchivan bordering Iran, and that innocent civilians were injured.
“These strikes are a flagrant violation of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and a needless escalation of Iran’s aggression,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement, adding that attacks on American partners in the region “are unacceptable and will be met with resolute US support for those partners.”
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