Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed in a Fox News interview that two weeks ago he was presented with intelligence about Iranian ballistic missile launch drills aimed at Israel, reiterating his warning to Tehran. "If you dare to do this, the results will be devastating," he told the host Bret Baier
In the interview, conducted after his Monday meeting with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Netanyahu reiterated his demand for Hamas' disarmament as a condition for moving to Phase 2 of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, addressed criticism of settler violence in the West Bank, and discussed the humiliation he experiences in the criminal trial against him.
Netanyahu revealed that Iran has been attempting to rebuild its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities. "The president was correct when he said that, you know, the Fordo thing was obliterated so they are trying other sites. They will try that. They are trying to recover their ballistic missile facility. We set them back considerably on both areas. But, they will try." He warned, ""They are going back to production."
The prime minister disclosed that two weeks ago he received intelligence about Iranian drills simulating the launch of ballistic missiles at Israel. "I conveyed a message, I made it public, so it's not a secret. I said: 'If you dare to do this, the results will be devastating.' I hope Iran won't make this mistake."
When asked about the likelihood of additional military action in Iran, he responded: "They're returning to production. Regarding the nuclear program, I think they're trying to do it. I'm not sure they've decided to cross the line, because they're heeding President Trump's warnings and also because they just experienced something less than a year ago. They saw what it entails." He stressed that removing the long-term threat from Iran is about denying it a path to nuclearlization. "With Iran the real issue was they should accept the fact they shouldn't have nuclear enrichment capability. They should take outline [sic] all of the material that they have already enriched. Take it out of Iran and have inspections"
Netanyahu added: "Look, we don't seek escalation. I hope they don't. But if they do, all bets are off."
Netanyahu dismissed reports of tension with the White House team ahead of the Mar-a-Lago meeting this week and the supposed divergence on the issue of Iran, with the Israeli side reportedly trying to adopt a more hawkish posture toward Hamas. "I can't deal with anyone of these fake spins. I didn't have to bring the President anywhere. We saw eye to eye. He cut right to the chase. He said, look, skip all this press stuff. I mean, the real thing is, you have got to get Hamas to disarm. He just banged the nail on the head, you know...He understands, look we are attacked, these terrorists try to kill us, sometimes kill our soldiers."
On Hamas' disarmament, Netanyahu explained: "Hamas still has about 20,000 people with mainly rifles. In total they have 60,000 Kalashnikovs. That's what disarmament means – you need to take all those rifles and break up those terror tunnels. There still have hundreds of kilometers of terror tunnels. Hamas refuses to do this."
