Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says attack on Iran to continue with 'full force'

Benjamin Netanyahu. Pic/AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a live broadcast statement that Israel's attack on Iran will continue with "full force and uncompromising momentum."

Israel has a well-prepared plan with many surprises to undermine "Iranian regime" and "enable change," Netanyahu said on Saturday.

Addressing the Iranian people, he said, "The moment of truth is approaching. We do not seek to divide Iran, but to liberate it and live with it in peace." He condemned the United Nations for "condemning us without reason in our just war against Iran's murderous proxies in Gaza and doing nothing about the massacre in Iran."

He also demanded that the Lebanese government enforce the ceasefire agreement and disarm Hezbollah, Xinhua news agency reported.

"If you do not do this, Hezbollah's aggression will have disastrous consequences for Lebanon," he warned. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said the United States had severely weakened Iran's military after a week of fighting, while signalling that Washington holds strong negotiating leverage but is not actively pursuing a settlement with Tehran.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday during a press gaggle aboard Air Force One, Trump described the early phase of the conflict as a decisive blow against Iran's armed forces. The United States and Israel launched a joint military operation against Iran on February 28. "We've wiped out their Navy, 44 ships. We've wiped out their Air Force. Every plane," Trump said. He said American strikes had also crippled Iran's missile capabilities and launch infrastructure.

"We've knocked out about 70 per cent of the rocket launchers," he said, adding that the systems were "very hard to get, very expensive."

According to Trump, the reduction in launchers and manufacturing capacity has sharply reduced Iran's ability to retaliate. "They're at about 9 per cent of what they sent out in the first two days," he said.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever