In an exclusive interaction, Israel’s Ambassador to India, Reuven Azar, praised the recent US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. He expressed gratitude to President Donald Trump, calling the move bold and the right decision to strike Iran. Azar said the strikes were aimed at defending the region from nuclear terrorism.
00:00Joining me now on this India Today special broadcast is Reuven Azhar, Israel's ambassador to India.
00:06Ambassador, welcome on India Today.
00:09The United States has carried out a series of missile strikes and bomb attacks.
00:15The GBU-57 on the B-2 bombers.
00:18Do you have an initial assessment of the damage in Iran, sir?
00:22Well, it's too soon to tell.
00:24I think we have to wait for the BDA.
00:26Today, the kind of ammunition that was used by the United States is quite heavy and substantial.
00:34So the expectation is that significant damage has been caused to these installations.
00:41And that is in addition to all the action that Israel took.
00:45We are very grateful for the President of the United States.
00:48I think he did the right and bold move to defend not only our country, but to defend the region and to defend the world.
00:55From the threat of nuclear terrorism.
00:58Sir, you say it's defending the world from nuclear terrorism.
01:02Iran looks at it as massive escalation and aggression.
01:06They're saying it's a violation of all international treaties and norms, a violation of the UN.
01:11UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called it a blatant violation and said there should be de-escalation immediately.
01:19Well, those who are calling this a violation should have concentrated in condemning Iran's violation, because Iran has been cheating the world for the last 30 years.
01:32They have been conducting clandestine military nuclear activity.
01:37They have been trying to sneak out to a nuclear weapon while negotiating with the United States.
01:43So they are the aggressors.
01:45We know that Iran has been the aggressor in our region.
01:49They have been attacking not only the state of Israel, but many countries in the region, taking over Arab capitals, developing weapons of mass destruction, proliferating weapons of mass destruction.
02:00So I think that the only ones that can be responsible for what is happening is the reckless behavior of a terrorist regime that has sworn to destroy the state of Israel, destroying havoc into the region.
02:15The IAEA has determined only two weeks ago that Iran is in non-compliance.
02:23So you cannot accept a situation in which a country that is a signatory to the safeguard agreement is violating them, and then seek immunity from attack.
02:35It is completely ridiculous.
02:37I think that what Israel did and what the United States did actually is showing responsibility, is showing that when you defy the rules determined by the international community, you are going to pay the price.
02:51In your appreciation, the targeting of FORDO, for which American assistance was required, considering that the only ones with the B-2 bombers and the GBU-57s, 30 Tomahawk missiles fired at Ishfahan and at Natanz.
03:06How much damage has been inflicted on Iran's nuclear capabilities?
03:12And is this a setback for their nuclear weapons program by how many years in your assessment?
03:21Absolutely.
03:22The Iranian plan was setback for years.
03:26I remind you that Israel not only attacked the nuclear facilities, we also took out the team that was working on weaponization.
03:36So although Iran has mastered the capability to enrich uranium, and I don't think that this attack is going to take out the knowledge that the Iranians have,
03:46it has caused damage mainly to two elements of the nuclear program that are critical, and that set them back for years.
03:55The first, as I said, the criminal scientists that were working on a nuclear device, a nuclear weapon, and the installations themselves.
04:06Not only America has attacked them, we have attacked them also.
04:09So Natanz is now neutralized, Ishfahan is neutralized, and hopefully FORDO will be neutralized as well.
04:16And in your assessment, is this the end of their nuclear weapons program, a setback by several years, point one, point two, is that your aim achieved?
04:26Will a regime change, is that still your aim, or your aim has been achieved so far, sir?
04:31Well, I must remind you that we never said that our aim is to, is regime change in Iran.
04:37The Israeli cabinet has taken very specific decisions, and they include removing two existential threats that were coming from Iran.
04:50One is the nuclear military threat, and the second is the missile ballistic threat.
04:54We have taken very substantive action against dozens of sites in Iran that were involved with those threats, the capabilities, the factories to produce ballistic missiles, for example, in more than 70 locations in which the Iranians had different elements of the nuclear program.
05:14Now, in your view, will there be an escalation, because Iran has immediately struck back, I believe there's been an attack on Haifa, there are several other locations that are being targeted in Israel.
05:28What do you make of Iran's capabilities to continue to strike back?
05:33Will it remain restricted to Israel, or will they widen it to US interests in the region, sir?
05:39Well, first of all, indeed, the Israelis are in shelters.
05:44However, the capability of Iran to continue hitting Israel has been degraded substantially, from a scope of more than 200 ballistic missiles a day.
05:54At the beginning of this campaign, to around 20 now, that means that the Iranians are having a challenge to continue attacking Israel.
06:05And not to mention the challenge that they will have if they want to attack the region, because their capabilities have been decimated by Israel.
06:13And therefore, I'm optimistic that if Iran continues this, first of all, I hope that they will not continue, and that they have gotten the message.
06:23But if they start to continue, I think I'm optimistic regarding the capability of both the United States, Israel, and other countries in the region, to actually retaliate in an efficient way, and prevent from Iran, causing the damage it is threatening to cause.
06:40Ambald Azhar, in your appreciation, was the US strike a one-off?
06:45Has that aim been achieved, especially at Fordo, or in your view, would more precision strikes be required?
06:53And there were some reports that seemed to indicate, and on India Today, we had that report, that Iran was able to use trucks to move some of the material from Fordo to other places.
07:04Are there other sites where it could still be trying to, one, enrich uranium, two, speed up the process of making the nine atom bombs, as your Prime Minister put it, sir?
07:18Well, first of all, I think we have to listen very carefully to the voice of President Trump.
07:24And he, I don't have to add anything to that.
07:27I think he was very clear that if Iran takes action against American interests, the United States will retaliate very forcefully.
07:36Regarding the capabilities of the Iranians to continue sneaking out to a nuclear weapon, I think that we have proved the capability to prevent that.
07:44At this point, we have complete control over Iranian skies.
07:48We are hunting down against the activities, including launchers of missiles, which we have degraded for more than 50%, including nuclear activities.
08:01So, we will keep alert.
08:03If we see that Iran continues with its plan to create a nuclear weapon, we will not hesitate to take action again.
08:10And in your view, if this battle of attrition continues for long, is it advantage Iran and disadvantage Israel, considering your civilian areas are being targeted, whether in Haifa or in Tel Aviv or, like in the past, in Beersheba?
08:30Well, the Israeli cabinet will have to make decisions.
08:33If we see that Iran continues to attack us, they will have to decide what measures to take.
08:40in order to neutralize Israel.
08:42Do you see today's operations as a success?
08:45And do you think this will compel Iran to come to the talks table with the United States of America, usher in peace, or lead to further escalation?
08:54Militarily, this is a huge success.
08:56I think that what the Israeli security forces, the IDF, the Mossad and other agencies have done, is absolutely remarkable.
09:04This will be written in the pages of history.
09:06The move to remove these essential threats from Israel actually is going to secure the future of Israel for generations to come, and it has been very effective.
09:18Whether this is going to bring back or to bring the Iranians seriously to the negotiating table remains to be seen.
09:26We hope it does, and we hope peace will prevail, because if we don't actually take action against aggressors, it's very difficult to promote peace.
