Netanyahu warns Iran: ‘There’s nowhere beyond our reach… and today you know how true that is’

Explaining the benefits of the elimination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel won’t only advance the return of northern residents to their homes, “but also advance the return of our hostages in the south.”

This, he argues, is because “the more that [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar sees that Hezbollah is no longer coming to save him, the greater the chances for the return of our hostages.”

Netanyahu praises the IDF, the Israeli Air Force, Military Intelligence, the Mossad and the Shin Bet for their achievements — “and not only yesterday.” Notably, he does not mention Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who oversaw the operation with the security chiefs while Netanyahu was in the US, and who had reportedly pressed Netanyahu to approve it.

Netanyahu says that despite the achievements, “the work is not yet done” and tells Israelis: “We will face significant challenges in the days ahead, and meet them.”

He recalls that Nasrallah likened Israel to a “spider’s web,” and says the Hezbollah chief instead discovered “the steel tendons of a united nation determined to guarantee its existence and future.” Indeed, he says, “the entire Middle East has discovered this.”

He says Nasrallah’s elimination has given hope to all who oppose Iran’s axis of evil, and to all those struggling under “the violent tyranny” of Iran and its proxies in Lebanon, Syria, and beyond.

He tells the citizens of Iran and countries dominated by Iran and its proxies that “the State of Israel stands with you.”

And he warns the “ayatollahs’ regime” that “those who strike at us, we will strike at them. There is nowhere in Iran or the Middle East beyond the reach of the long arm of Israel, and today you know how true that is.”

This passage echoes the warning he gave to Iran during his speech to the UN General Assembly yesterday — in wording he added just prior to delivering his address, having just approved the strike on Beirut in which Nasrallah was killed.

Finally, he tells Israel’s citizens that “these are great days” at what “seems to be a historic turning point.”

“A year ago, on October 7, our enemies attacked us and thought that Israel was en route to extinction. A year later, strike after strike, achievement after achievement, they understand how their hopes have been dashed.”

He says Israel is on the rise and winning, and determined to enable the residents of the north to return and to bring home the hostages. “We don’t forget them for a second.”

Netanyahu ends his recorded statement with the declaration, “We will fight together, and with God’s help, we will win together.”