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- Benny Gantz: UAV used in Mercer Street attack launched from Iran
Benny Gantz: UAV used in Mercer Street attack launched from Iran
"Iran has the intention to destroy the State of Israel and is working on developing the means to do so"
Israel's Defense Minister Benny Gantz revealed in a Wednesday security briefing to some 60 ambassadors and members of the diplomatic community that the recent UAV attack on the Israeli-owned commercial vessel Mercer Street in the Gulf of Oman emanated from Iranian territory.
Gantz - speaking in the shadow of the United States' recent abandonment of its Afghan allies admitted that "the State of Israel has the means to act and will not hesitate to do so – I do not rule out the possibility that Israel will have to take action in the future in order to prevent a nuclear Iran.” He modified slightly when he said that the Iranian threat to Israel was an existential one, but that a nuclear Islamic Republic should be of concern to the world.
In a stark warning, the defense minister -who was providing the briefing for the third consecutive year - maintained that "Iran has the intention to destroy the State of Israel and is working on developing the means to do so.”
He outlined that the Iranian threat comes from multiple sources and locations, citing that the land-based challenge is present in its proxies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Gaza. Its aerial threat is defined through its use of UAVs and precision-guided missiles. The Islamic Republic is also threatening international trade through its maritime attacks on commercial shipping, as well as its development of cyber warfare.
"Our assessment is that the UAV employed in the Mercer Street attack was launched from Iranian territory and approved by the Iranian leadership.”
In his presentation, Gantz showed that Iran's military spending had more than doubled in the last five years, growing from some $22 billion to an estimated $49 billion for the 2021/22 fiscal year.
The defense minister delivered his remarks as Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is in Washington, DC, to meet with senior Biden administration defense and security officials - and a meeting with the US president Thursday - to urge them to not return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).