Israel will retaliate against anyone who seeks to harm the Jewish state “in the time and place and way” of its choosing, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Monday.
Warning that Israel has a “variety of tools and options” to protect its citizens, he stressed it would make Iran pay for the deadly drone attack that hit the Mercer Street ship near the shores of Oman, which killed two people.
“This is not just an Israeli matter,” Gantz said. “The whole world sees the results of Iran’s aggression and must take action. Any agreement with Iran must also address its aggression in the region and its harm both to innocent people and to the global economy.”
Although Iran has denied being behind the attack on the Israeli-managed ship on which a Romanian and a British national were killed, an Iranian official on Monday said Tehran would respond to any retaliation.
“Although the Islamic Republic of Iran considers the threats of Western officials and those of the Zionist regime as propaganda, any move against the interests and national security of Iran will face a tough and firm response, and Washington and London will be directly responsible for its consequences,” the official was quoted by Nour News as saying.
Iranian maritime aggression has gotten worse, Gantz said, adding that it has attacked five international ships over the past year.
The deadly attack against the Mercer Street “that resulted in the murder of two civilians is a clear violation of international law,” he said. “It is immoral, and it constitutes an escalation” by Iran.
The threat posed by Iran is “not a future threat, but rather a tangible and immediate one,” Gantz said, adding that Israel would work to remove any threat against Israeli citizens and interests.
“Iran, under the murderous [President-elect Ebrahim] Raisi, who will take office this week, will be more dangerous to the world than it has been so far, more destructive to the region than it has been so far, and will strive to become an existential threat to Israel,” he said. “We will work to remove any such threat.”
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