Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the overthrow of the Islamic Republic regime in Iran is “within reach,” considering that it has become “weaker” than ever before, while the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard vowed revenge.
During an event with military leaders, Netanyahu expressed his conviction in the ability to “remove” this threat once and for all, that is, to topple this Iranian regime.
Emphasizing that this is “the central task that still awaits us, but it is close, not impossible, and within reach.”
Netanyahu added: “The regime is currently reeling, it is weaker than ever, and it is fighting for survival.”
Netanyahu's statements, as he is preparing to run in legislative elections that are expected to witness intense competition in late October, come in light of the renewed exchange of strikes between the United States and Iran this week.
Israeli officials warned the Islamic Republic against responding forcefully to any attacks that might affect Israel.
Netanyahu said, "If they are not attacking us, it is not a coincidence. They are attacking everyone except us... They know our strength, the strength of our weapons, and our determination."
On Thursday, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Ahmed Vahidi, vowed to avenge four people who were killed during a wedding in the south of the country, in a strike for which Tehran held the United States responsible.
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Wahidi said in a statement broadcast on state television, “The pure blood of these martyrs... will not be in vain, and we will definitely avenge it.”
The strike occurred on Tuesday night in the coastal city of Kohstak overlooking the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran, after the United States announced attacks targeting sites belonging to the Revolutionary Guard.
Iranian authorities said that the raid killed at least four people, including a child, and injured 68 others at the wedding, and Iranian officials described the attack as a "war crime."
Meanwhile, US Vice President J.D. Vance said that Washington is investigating the strike on a wedding in Iran but “questions” Tehran’s story.
Vance added that the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz has returned "almost" to pre-war levels, noting that the United States is trying to prevent the Iranians from shooting at commercial ships and that the efforts made "prevented a global energy crisis," as he described it.
Vance said "everything" is on the table to pressure the Iranian government, including economic, military, diplomatic and covert pressure.
Iran launched attacks on Kuwait on Thursday, announcing the targeting of “American interests,” after a round of mutual attacks between the United States and Iran, described as the most violent since last July.
The Kuwaiti army said, at dawn on Thursday, on the X platform: “The Kuwaiti air defenses are currently confronting missile attacks and enemy drones, as a result of the sinful Iranian aggression.”
The Iranian army announced that it targeted American bases in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
He said, in a statement broadcast on state television, that "missiles and drones targeted satellite communications systems, equipment warehouses and hangars for American fighter aircraft at Ahmed Al-Jaber Air Base in Kuwait."
He also added that "missiles and drones also targeted US forces' positions and radar systems at Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE."
About three days ago, the UAE denied Iranian allegations of targeting Al Minhad Air Base, but it has not yet commented on the allegations made by Tehran on Thursday.
American-Russian escalation
US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, revealed the stage that the United States of America has reached with Iran, and stressed that Tehran will not possess nuclear weapons, “This will certainly not happen during President Trump’s term.”
Rubio said, in an interview via digital communication technology with American broadcaster and political analyst Brian Kilmeade, published by the State Department, “With regard to the Strait of Hormuz, after six months of confrontation with Iran, we always reserve the right to defend our interests in the region, even though the primary means by which we prevent them from acquiring a nuclear weapon and use it to impose a cost on them is an economic tool.”
He pointed out that Iran had completely “lost” control over the strait. “They planted mines in the strait, but we were able to successfully destroy them, and the shipping lanes widened. But they continue to shoot at everything, especially the ships.”
He stressed that the Strait will remain open and will not be under Iran's control, and this is "what the president is currently implementing."
Regarding Russian support for Iran, Rubio explained that there is no consensus with the Russians and their regime regarding Iran and their vision of the issue.
He said: "There is no doubt that Russia is fully preoccupied with Ukraine and the efforts it is making there. But I have said before and I repeat, nothing that any party offers to Iran hinders in any way our ability to act in the necessary manner to protect the United States."
For his part, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow will continue to support Iran and develop relations with it.
Speaking on a news broadcast on Russian state television, Peskov expressed his doubts about Washington's capabilities to monopolize relations with any country.
He stressed that Russia will continue to "expand" relations with its partners, including Iran, adding, "We have our partners and friends and we maintain friendly and participatory relations with them, and we will develop them."
After a month of relative calm in the war that broke out with an American-Israeli attack on Iran last February, the situation witnessed a military escalation last Sunday, with the return of the exchange of strikes while the diplomatic track is still faltering.
The US military launched two rounds of strikes on Sunday and Tuesday evening. The American strikes on Iran on Tuesday left 19 people dead, including four members of the Revolutionary Guard and four members of the Basij forces, in one of the highest human losses in months.
Four people were killed and about 70 injured during a wedding in Sirik Province in southeastern Iran, according to Iranian media.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry considered that the American strike on the wedding amounted to a "war crime."
Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei wrote in a post on the X platform: “The truth about this illegal war... and the true face of the war crime, is in Serik, where the United States brutally bombed a wedding party, in the context of its miserable struggle to hide its failure in the war with the Islamic Republic.”
The US Army did not comment on the strike that hit the wedding, but stressed that it "does not target civilians at all, unlike the Revolutionary Guard."
The Iranian strikes on Kuwait come as part of an Iranian escalation against Washington's allies from neighboring countries.
On Wednesday, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced that it had bombed American sites in Jordan, Iraq, Bahrain and Kuwait, and launched a “combined attack with missiles and drones on the American bases in Erbil,” while the Iranian Armed Forces said that “dozens of attack drones... targeted radar systems and sites of American forces at the Al Dhafra and Al Minhad bases in the UAE,” in addition to other sites at the Sheikh Issa Air Base in Bahrain.
For its part, the Jordanian army announced that its air defense systems dealt with 13 ballistic missiles that entered the Kingdom’s airspace, shooting down ten of them, while three missiles fell in uninhabited areas, without announcing any casualties or damage.
The fighting has largely subsided since the exchange of fire last July, although talks have failed to make progress during that period.
Yesterday, Wednesday, the Saudi National Shipping Company, “Bahri,” announced the death of two Filipino sailors after its oil tanker, “Sidr,” was exposed to a security incident while crossing the Strait of Hormuz late Monday.
The company confirmed, in a statement on the
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its condemnation of what it described as Iran’s targeting of a Saudi tanker named “Sidr” while crossing the strait, and the resulting “deaths of the tanker’s crew,” according to the ministry.
On the other hand, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard said that the two tankers attempted, “at the instigation of the American army,” to cross outside the navigation path designated by Iranian forces in the strait, before they collided with mines and explosions occurred on board, causing them to catch fire, according to his account.
This escalation comes despite statements by US President Donald Trump that the new US campaign against Iran will not last for a long time.
But Trump confirmed at the same time, in statements to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, that Washington is ready to launch another attack on Iran at any time it wants.
Trump added that Iran was trying to build a missile that would drop mines, but the United States destroyed it.
He stated that Iran is working to restore its radar and missile systems, which were also targeted in US strikes.
The American President said: “We destroyed all the new equipment they tried to build near the Strait of Hormuz, some of it defensive and some of it offensive... It was a very heavy attack last night, and we are ready to launch another attack whenever we want.”
Reuters news agency quoted four unnamed sources as saying that senior Trump aides are seeking to prevent an escalation of the war before the midterm congressional elections, to limit Republican electoral losses, and that White House officials will consider escalating military action after the vote, scheduled for next November.
Opinion polls show that more than half of Americans oppose the war.
'Severe consequences for civilians'
Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the United Nations Secretary-General, said in a press conference on Wednesday that António Guterres "is deeply concerned about reports of civilian deaths, including those killed in a raid believed to have targeted a wedding party in Iran."
He called for an immediate cessation of military operations.
A “new security framework” for the Middle East
Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Middle Eastern countries to oppose external interference and discuss changing the security system in the region, during his visit to Egypt on Wednesday, at a time when Beijing seeks to expand its influence in the Middle East.
The Chinese news agency, Xinhua, quoted Xi as saying that countries in the region must “take matters into their own hands” and search for a new “security structure” in the region.
Xi added that China is ready to work with countries in the region to protect maritime shipping routes, an issue that has gained greater importance after the war disrupted transit traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab.
The Chinese President's statements come as partners of the United States in the region are re-evaluating their strategic relations with Washington, after a war that has been ongoing for months that disrupted trade and shook the economies of countries in the region, prompting some of them to search for alternative security alliances.
Mutual warnings
Iran has warned the United States that it will respond forcefully to any Israeli attack on the “Ali al-Tahir” hill in southern Lebanon, where Iranian soldiers are holed up alongside fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
On Thursday, Reuters news agency quoted three informed officials in the region as saying that Tehran threatened, in a letter delivered to Washington via Oman last month, that any comprehensive Israeli attack on the hill would be met with a large-scale Iranian attack.
According to Reuters, it is believed that more than ten members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, including at least two senior officers, were accompanied by Hezbollah fighters on Ali Al-Taher Hill.
In Israel, Defense Minister Yisrael Katz threatened Iran to respond “with great force and independently of any other party” to any attack that Tehran might launch against Israel, stressing at the same time: “We have no plans to join the war at the present time.”
