The far-right Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, called today (Sunday) for the annexation of areas in southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip that are currently under Israeli military control, and for Israeli forces to launch a “war” against the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Smotrich said in a “podcast” program for the Israeli news site “Ynet”: “I would like us to annex lands that extend at least as far as the (yellow line) in Gaza (which separates the areas under Hamas control from those under Israeli control) and up to the Litani River in Lebanon... Because if the war ends on the same lines where it began, what will deter the enemy from waging another war?”
He added: “I think we need to fight a war in Judea and Samaria, and dismantle the Palestinian Authority, which supports terrorism,” using the biblical name for the West Bank.
Smotrich leads a far-right party that calls for the annexation of the entire West Bank, a region that Israel has occupied since 1967.
The West Bank has witnessed an escalation in violence since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.
More than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank - which are considered illegal under international law - among about three million Palestinians in the Palestinian territories, according to what Agence France-Presse reported.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Army, Major General Amir Hatami, said that the war “is not over,” stressing that his country is going through a “sensitive and fateful” phase, threatening Iran’s enemies with “severe strikes.” The Iranian General Staff said that the management of the Strait of Hormuz “is in the hands of Iran,” warning Washington against interfering in it.
On Saturday, US President Donald Trump announced the rejection of an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the fighting within seven days, with Tehran adhering to conditions close to the memorandum of understanding reached by the two parties in Islamabad, which collapsed after Iran resumed its attacks on ships in the strait.
The official IRNA news agency quoted Hatami as saying during a conference in Tehran today that among the “miscalculations” of Iran’s opponents is the belief that killing the Iranian leader and a number of senior leaders will lead to the collapse of the country.
He added: “Not a single leader backed down. Everyone stood strong; The possibility of assassination was present at every moment, but they stood firm and defended the country.”
Hatami accused the United States of seeking to cause unrest inside Iran, and said that US President Donald Trump wants to put pressure on the Iranians to push them into rebellion and lead to civil war.
He referred to Trump's statements regarding Venezuela, saying that the United States wanted to implement the same scenario in Iran, and said that the Iranians would not allow that.
He said, “The imposed war is going through sensitive and fateful stages,” adding: “The war is not over.” “We won, but we have to maintain this victory.”
He added, "The aggressor enemy received severe blows, but he must still prepare to receive harsh blows from Iranian soldiers."
Hatami said that Tehran will not accept being deprived of trade while foreign parties use the strategic waterways in the region.
He added: “If Iran cannot trade, and if Iran cannot live, no one will be able to trade or live,” adding that “the country’s enemies will not be allowed to use this great logistical corridor while the Iranian people are deprived of it.”
The army does not rule out an American attack
In parallel, Iranian army spokesman Amir Akrami Nia said that the armed forces are “fully prepared” for any new American attacks, warning that the United States will be exposed to “greater damage” if it launches another attack on Iran.
Reuters quoted Iranian official media as saying that the United States may launch a new attack due to what he described as the tense regional situation, and that Iran is ready for confrontation and to cause greater damage to Washington.
Akrami Nia said that Washington made a mistake in its calculations when it thought that the strikes on Hamas and Hezbollah, and the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, in addition to developments inside Iran, made the conditions ripe for attacking the country.
He added that Iran responded to the attacks on February 28, and that on March 2, the Iranian Air Force carried out operations in Kuwait, Qatar, and the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
He said: “Our missiles and drones directed an overwhelming response to the enemy.”
Akrami Nia accused Trump of seeking to divide Iran, saying that he "also tried in the third war, like Saddam, to divide the country, but neither of them succeeded."
“Hormuz Administration”
The spokesman for the Iranian General Staff, Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarji, said on Saturday evening that “management of the Strait of Hormuz is in the hands of Iran.”
Shekarji said, in an interview with state television, that “any ship that wants to cross outside the Iranian route will not be safe.”
He warned the United States against interfering in the Strait, saying, “The Americans have no way to escape except by leaving the West Asian region, and the sooner they leave, the less their losses will be.”
He added: “Let the Americans dream of intervening in the Strait of Hormuz, and if they interfere in the Strait of Hormuz, they will receive a slap.”
Shekarji said that Iran, which he described as a “global power,” would not allow the United States to return to its “previous position in the new world order.”
