In video appeal to Iranian citizens, Netanyahu says ‘one day Iran will be free’

Issuing a video message aimed at the people of Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said the Iranian axis was crumbling due to a “chain reaction” set off by Israel, and expressed his hope that Iran can “be free” and make peace globally.

Speaking in English with Persian subtitles, Netanyahu pointed out that Iranian leaders “spent over 30 billion dollars supporting [Bashar] Assad in Syria” before his regime “collapsed into dust.”

“Your oppressors spent billions supporting Hamas in Gaza. Today their regime lies in ruins,” he added. “Your oppressors spent over 20 billion dollars supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon. In a matter of weeks, most of Hezbollah’s leaders, its rockets and thousands of its terrorists went up in smoke.”

Netanyahu — in his third video message addressing Iranians in recent months — said that the new reality in the Middle East today is due to “a chain reaction — a chain reaction to the pounding of Hamas, the decimation of Hezbollah, the targeting of [Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah, the blows we delivered to the Iran regime’s axis of terror. And all this came, as President Trump pointed out this week, ‘because of Israel and its fighting success.'”

He said that while Iran’s leaders “seek to conquer other nations, to impose fundamentalist tyranny on the Middle East,” Israel is seeking only to “defend our state. But in so doing, we’re defending civilization against barbarism.”

Addressing Iranian citizens, the prime minister said he believes that “just as we want peace with you, you want peace with us.”

“But you suffer under the rule of a regime that subjugates you and threatens us,” he said. “You know what this regime is truly terrified of? It’s terrified of you, the people of Iran. And one day, I know that, one day this will change. One day Iran will be free.”

Netanyahu cited the chant “Women, Life, Freedom,” which became the rallying cry of mass anti-government protests in Iran in 2022 after the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran’s so-called morality police after she was detained for not fully covering her hair.

“That is the future of Iran,” he added. “That is the future of peace. And I have no doubt that we will realize that future together – a lot sooner than people think. I know and I believe we will transform the Middle East into a beacon of prosperity, progress and peace.”

In a similar video message issued last month, Netanyahu said that the money the Iranian government spent on attacking Israel in October “could have added billions to your transportation budget. It could have added billions to your education budget. But instead, [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei exposed the regime’s brutality and turned the world against your country. He robbed you of money that should have been yours.”

And in late September — just days after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut assassinated Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime head of Iranian proxy Hezbollah, Netanyahu issued a video saying that Iran’s “puppets” were being eliminated, and that there was “nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people.” He called on Iranians not to “let a small group of fanatic theocrats crush your hopes and your dreams.”

Lazar Berman contributed to this report.