Netanyahu Calls Iran ‘Greatest Threat To Our World’

RFL/RE– Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Iran represents the “greatest threat to our world,” urging the international community to confront a “regime” in Tehran that “threatens peace.”

Netanyahu’s remarks on February 18 came during his first appearance at the Munich Security Conference, a high-profile annual gathering of world leaders, senior officials, and policy experts.

He delivered a stern denunciation of the Iranian leadership and criticized a landmark 2015 international deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for an easing of sanctions, saying it has not moderated Iran “internally or externally.”

Netanyahu said there were “striking similarities” between today’s Iran and Nazi Germany, saying that the Iranian leadership wants to destroy Israel.

He sought to differentiate between Iran’s citizens and “an Iranian regime that threatens peace,” saying he has “no problem with the people of Iran.”

Netanyahu also told the audience, which included U.S. and European diplomats, that Iran is expanding its influence in the Middle East as the extremist group Islamic State (IS), also known as ISIS, lost most of the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria.

“The unfortunate thing is that as ISIS compresses and Iran moves in, it is trying to establish this continuous empire surrounding the Middle East from the south in Yemen but also trying to create a land bridge from Iran to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Gaza,” he said.

“This is a very dangerous development for our region,” Netanyahu added.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dismissed Natanyahu’s remarks when he addressed the conference later on February 18.

Not mentioning Netanyahu by name, Zarif told the audience that earlier in the morning they had witnessed a “cartoonish circus” that “does not even deserve the dignity of a response.”

Israel ‘Will Act If Necessary’

At one point during his speech, Netanyahu held up what he said was a piece of an Iranian drone shot down by Israel over its territory earlier this month.

He called out to Zarif in the audience, saying: “Do you recognize this? You should. It’s yours.”

Netanyahu warned that Iran should “not test Israel’s resolve.”

“We will act if necessary not just against Iran’s proxies but against Iran itself,” he said.

Tensions between Israel and Iran spiked on February 10 after an Israeli warplane was shot down as it returned from a bombing operation against what the military described as both Syrian and Iranian targets in Syria.

The Israeli strikes came after the military said it had intercepted an Iranian drone crossing the Syria-Israel border.

Tehran rejected Israel’s version of the events as “ridiculous” and “lies,” saying Syria had the right to defend itself in response to the strikes.

U.S. President Donald Trump has accused Iran of violating the “spirit” of the nuclear accord and has said he wants to work with European allies and Congress to fix what he called “disastrous flaws” in the agreement.

Trump warned that Washington would withdraw from the deal if terms were not strengthened by May.

Iranian President Hassan Rohani said last month that Trump and his administration have “failed to undermine” the nuclear accord, “despite his repeated efforts.”

Rohani praised the nuclear deal as “a long-lasting victory for Iran.”

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP