Israel’s Prime Minister Delivers Threat To Iran While Standing Next To F-35

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

Standing next to an F-35 fighter jet, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Tuesday issued a threat to Iran, warning the Islamic Republic that it could soon feel Israel’s “long arm.”

In a video posted on Twitter, Lapid said it was too early to know if his pressure on the Biden administration to scrap negotiations to revive the Iran nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, has worked. “It is still too early to know if we have indeed succeeded in stopping the nuclear agreement, but Israel is prepared for every threat and every scenario,” Lapid said at the Nevatim airbase in southern Israel.

“If Iran continues to test us, it will discover Israel’s long arm and capabilities. We will continue to act on all fronts against terrorism and against those who seek to harm us,” Lapid added. 

The Israeli pressure does appear to be working as a revival of the JCPOA now seems unlikely since the US reacted negatively to Iran’s latest response in the ongoing negotiations, and the EU said the deal was in “danger”.

Lapid said in the video that he and President Biden agreed the US wouldn’t constrain Israel if it wanted to attack Iran.

“As President Biden and I agreed, Israel has full freedom to act as we see fit to prevent the possibility of Iran becoming a nuclear threat,” he said.

Lapid says that Israel’s concern is Iran becoming a nuclear-armed state, but if that were true, he would favor a revival of the JCPOA, which puts Iran’s civilian nuclear program under strict limits.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid, today at the Nevatim Air Force Base:

“It is still too early to know if we have indeed succeeded in stopping the nuclear agreement, but Israel is prepared for every threat and every scenario.” pic.twitter.com/iSch0xfsb1

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) September 6, 2022

Israel’s biggest complaint about the deal is that it doesn’t last forever. But even after the JCPOA, Iran would still be a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Israel refuses to sign due to its secret nuclear weapons program and undeclared stockpile.

Israel has a history of carrying out covert attacks inside Iran and is suspected of being behind a string of mysterious deaths that occurred inside the country this past Spring.