In first press conference since war began, Netanyahu says Israel ‘crushing’ Iran and Hezbollah, mocks IRGC ‘puppet’ Mojtaba Khamenei, who ‘cannot show his face in public’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is “crushing” the Iranian regime as well as its proxy Hezbollah, in his first press conference since the war with Iran began 13 days ago.

“We are crushing the terror regime in Iran. We are striking and defeating its proxies – Hezbollah in Lebanon,” he tells Israeli reporters in a Zoom conference.

“Hezbollah is feeling our force, and it will feel it even more so. It will pay a very heavy price for its aggression,” Netanyahu warns.

“Through an unprecedented joining of forces between Israel and the United States, we have achieved tremendous accomplishments — achievements that are changing the balance of power in the Middle East and even beyond it,” Netanyahu says.

The premier reiterates his claim that Iran’s military ambitions necessitated a swift campaign.

Israel warned Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei not to try to rebuild Iran’s “industries of death” after last June’s war, he says, but Khamenei “accelerated” the Iranian nuclear program, and buried it more deeply.

“If we had not acted immediately, within a few months Iran’s industries of death would have become immune to any strike. Therefore, we went out together to battle — the United States and Israel — to continue what we began and to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. To prevent Iran from developing ballistic missiles that threaten Israel, the United States, and the entire world. That is our objective.”

“We eliminated Khamenei,” Netanyahu says. And he scoffs that Khamenei’s son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei, who he calls a “puppet” of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, “cannot show his face in public.”