Prime Minister Netanyahu has claimed that Iran has now lost the ability to enrich uranium or manufacture ballistic missiles.
Speaking during a press conference to mark 20 days since the beginning of Operation Roaring Lion, he said: "After 20 days, I can tell you — Iran today has no ability to enrich uranium, and no ability to produce ballistic missiles.
"We are continuing to crush these capabilities. We will crush them to dust, to ashes.
"In [Operation] Rising Lion [in June], we destroyed missiles and we destroyed a lot of the nuclear infrastructure.
"But what we’re destroying now are the factories that produce the components to make these missiles and to make the nuclear weapons that they’re trying to produce.
"We’re wiping out their industrial base in a way that we didn’t do before."
“Iran’s air defenses have been rendered useless. Their navy is lying at the bottom of the sea. Today, we hit the other part of their navy, in the Caspian Sea. Their air force is nearly destroyed. Iran’s command and control structure is in utter chaos. And I can tell you that there’s still more work to do, and we’re going to do it.”
Netanyahu also said that Iran is "weaker than ever" while Israel has taken its place as a regional power, "and some would say a world power".
A spokesperson for the IRGC has denied the prime minister’s claims, saying: “Our missile industry score is 20 [referencing a perfect mark in Iranian schools] and there is no concern in this regard because we are producing missiles even during war conditions, which is amazing, and there is no particular problem in stockpiling.”
However, if Netanyahu’s claim is true, the complete degradation of Iran's missile and nuclear programmes would represent the achievement of a key war aim for both the US and Israel.
Outlining these aims, he continued: "Our goals are three. One, removing the nuclear threat. Second, removing the ballistic missile threat, and removing both of these threats before they’re buried deep underground and become immune from aerial attack.
"And third, this means creating the conditions for the Iranian people to grasp their freedom, to control their destiny.
"Today, the Ayatollah regime is not only attacking America, is not only attacking Israel, not only attacking the Iranian people, it is attacking the entire Middle East and beyond.
"We’ve warned for decades that their ballistic missile program would be used to attack these targets far and wide, and if they’re not stopped, that’s just the beginning."
And he also took the opportunity to condemn the “fake news" that Israel forced the US into a conflict with Iran against Washington’s wishes, as was notably alleged by the now-ex director of the US’ National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, in his resigantion letter earlier this week.
"Does anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do?” Netanyahu said
"Come on. President Trump always makes his decisions on what he thinks is good for America, and may I add, I think what is also good for future generations.
"In this case, those interests are absolutely clear. And so is the clarity of our achievements. Together in close coordination with President Trump, close coordination between America and Israel, our militaries, our intelligence services, we’re achieving goals, in lightning speed.
"It’s been said that for 40 years, I’ve been saying that Iran is a danger to Israel and a danger to the world. That is true. You know who else said that? President Trump. 47 years ago, when the Iranian thugs took over the American embassy, he said how dangerous this regime is… he didn’t need any convincing.”
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