Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman threatened to strike Tehran, along with Iranian facilities in Syria, if Iran were to attack Tel Aviv, in an interview published Thursday with the Saudi-owned, London-based news outlet Elaph.
“If they attack Tel Aviv, we will strike Tehran,” the defense minister warned.
Liberman’s statements came in response to the increasingly aggressive threats coming out of Tehran following an April 9 strike against an alleged Iranian drone facility in central Syria, which Iran has claimed Israel carried out. Israel remains officially mum on the strike.
Jerusalem has declared Iranian entrenchment in Syria unacceptable and vowed to take action in order to prevent it.
“We will destroy every site where we see an attempt by Iran to position itself militarily in Syria,” the defense minister said. “We will not allow it, at all costs.”
Despite his harsh language, Liberman said that he “wants calm” and doesn’t “want to attack or fight anyone.
“I want the situation in Tel Aviv, where the hotels are full and the cafes and restaurants are full around the clock, to continue, and this is what I also wish [for the Iranians] — calm, not war,” he said.
Liberman is the latest senior Israeli official to be interviewed by the Arabic-language newspaper. IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai have also spoken recently with the paper, along with a number of senior political figures. Mordechai also sat in on Elaph’s interview with the defense minister.
While Elaph is owned by Saudi businessman and journalist Othman Al Omeir, the website itself is blocked in Saudi Arabia. Nevertheless, the outlet has been seen as a way for Israel to communicate with the kingdom, albeit indirectly.
Liberman’s interview focused on three main issues: Iran, the Palestinians, and Israel’s improving relationship with the Arab world.
On Iran, Liberman took a hard-line approach — something that is likely to be well received by the Saudis, who see the Islamic Republic as their primary foe in the region.
Liberman criticized the Iran nuclear deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, comparing it to the 1938 Munich Agreement, which was meant to halt Nazi Germany’s expansion through Europe, but ended up emboldening Adolf Hitler.
“Europe is wrong again. In the past, the Europeans made a mistake when they signed the Munich Agreement in 1938 with Germany. We all know what happened and how Hitler tricked them,” he said.
“I think they are making the same mistake,” Liberman said.
The defense minister argued in favor of the United States pulling out of the accord, as US President Donald Trump has threatened to do. According to Liberman, such a move would lead to a collapse of the Iranian economy and potentially an end to the regime itself.
“The Iranian economy is collapsing. Look at the popular demonstrations against the unjust regime, the regime that led to economic collapse in Iran,” he said. “They know that the Iranian regime is in its last days and its collapse is near.”
Liberman charged that Iran has spent $13 billion in funding terrorist groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad throughout the Middle East. “And the Iranian people get nothing,” he said.
In the coming weeks, Trump is due to decide if America will remain part of the Iran nuclear agreement or impose new sanctions against the regime. On Wednesday, Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, who was visiting Washington, indicated that the US was likely to stay in the deal but seek additional measures to curb things like Iran’s ballistic missile program and support for terrorist groups in the region.
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