The Israeli military strikes on Iran are not only targeting Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, ballistic missile capabilities and military production facilities, but a key war tactic is also being employed to weaken the regime’s military and internal security structures by targeting forces such as the Basij , that is accused of suppressing domestic protests. The aim, says Israeli ambassador to India Reuven Azar, is not to “invade” Iran but to weaken these forces to create space for the Iranian people to rise against the oppressive regime and decide their political future and bring regional stability. “We are targeting the Basij forces, the oppression forces that have been killing thousands of Iranian protesters in the last few months.”
“We are not going to impose anything. Neither the United States nor Israel has the intention of invading Iran,” he said. At the moment, Israel is continuing to hunt missile launchers and remaining military production facilities, some of them hidden in civilian areas, but being pursued by the Israeli forces as part of its ongoing military campaign. Describing the military campaign, the ambassador said Israeli forces initially “concentrated at the beginning on neutralising the early sensors.” The operation then expanded to attacking “the attack capabilities, first in western Iran and then gradually into central and eastern Iran.” These strikes targeted military assets across the army, navy and air force, and “very importantly, the military production facilities.”
The need for military strikes at this stage arose from the realisation that Iran has effectively “cheated” diplomacy, he said, using negotiations and international talks as cover while continuing to advance its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. The decision to act now followed developments after an earlier operation in June, when Iran allegedly began moving key elements of its programmes deep underground. According to him, the Iranian leadership decided “to go very deep underground and make their projects of annihilation immune from Israeli or American attack,” something Israel said it “couldn’t allow.”
Diplomatically, he noted, the United States had been trying to bring Iran to negotiations.
According to him, Israeli forces have struck “thousands and thousands of military targets,” and the campaign has been “pretty successful and ahead of schedule.” Iran has responded with retaliatory strikes, firing “hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones into Israel.” Israeli defences, he said, “managed to neutralise all the drones,” though some ballistic missiles did strike Israeli territory. “A few missiles have hit Israel,” he said, adding there were “about 12 casualties so far” and “hundreds of wounded,” along with damage to several buildings.
The ambassador also accused Iran of widening the conflict, saying it had attempted to retaliate “not only against us, but to attack 12 countries in our region.” He claimed these strikes were directed “not just at military targets but maybe civilian targets both in Israel but also in the Gulf.” He also referred to a United Nations Security Council resolution co-sponsored by India condemning the attacks
Israel, he said, is continuing efforts to degrade Iran’s missile capabilities. “The firepower of Iran has diminished, diminishing constantly,” he said, noting that the number of launches had dropped to “something like 10 launches from Iran per day,” a figure Israel expects “will continue to drop in the coming days.
On the possible end to the war, the ambassador remained non-committal on a timeline, saying both Israel and the United States are calling on Iran “to comply with the demands that we have put forward months ago.” “Israel always prefers diplomacy,” he said, pointing to past agreements with Egypt and Jordan as examples of how “when somebody decides that they want to stop destroying Israel and they want to engage with Israel, this brings peace pretty fast.” The Egypt-Israel peace treaty was signed in Washington and reached after the Egyptian regime chose engagement with Israel. Azar said a similar attempt could well be the starting point for peace emerging in the region as Iran will need to abandon confrontation and turn to negotiation. On suggestions whether Israel has factored in a scenario where the US exits the war or shifts its policy against Iran even strategically, given that American domestic politics remains dynamic ahead of US mid-term elections, Azar says these factors are not going to shape the course of the war, because both Israel and the United States are acting strictly in line with their own strategic interests.
He also signalled that Israel is prepared for a prolonged confrontation if necessary. According to him, thousands of Iranian military targets have already been struck and Iran’s missile launch capabilities significantly degraded, but operations will continue until Israel’s core security objectives are achieved. The ambassador also dismissed rumours around the safety of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the PM is not just alive but he met him personally more than once during his recent visits to Israel.