Rejecting criticism, Sa’ar says attack on Iran couldn’t wait, will continue with ‘powerful blows’

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar hits back at critics of the joint US-Israeli campaign against Iran by saying the Iranian regime’s goal of destroying Israel justifies the assault, in comments in a situational assessment at the Foreign Ministry shared by his office.

“We are receiving criticism regarding attacks on the regime,” Sa’ar says, without elaborating. The United Nations Secretary General and some Arab states have condemned the campaign, while many countries have responded cautiously and urged a return to diplomacy. Others have praised the attack.

Sa’ar says the attack will go on: “The intention is to continue, together with the United States, with very powerful blows against the Iranian regime,” he says.

“If this regime calls for the destruction of Israel and acts to destroy Israel, then we are authorized — and cannot wait — for it to achieve the goal it has set for itself, and which it is pursuing persistently and with determination that has not changed even after June,” he says, referring to Israel’s strikes on Iran last year, which the US eventually joined and which aimed to dismantle Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

“The first blow [of the current attack] was very effective and achieved its objectives beyond expectations,” Sa’ar says during the assessment.