Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Iran not to test his country’s resolve while brandishing what he said was part of an Iranian drone shot down in Israel’s airspace.
Saying he had ‘a message to the tyrants of Tehran’ during a speech at the Munich Security Conference, he warned: ‘Do not test Israel’s resolve.’
He brandished a rectangular piece of dark green metal which he called ‘a piece of that Iranian drone, or what’s left of it, after we shot it down.’
He brandished a rectangular piece of dark green metal which he called ‘a piece of that Iranian drone, or what’s left of it, after we shot it down’
During the strikes last week, one of Israel’s F-16 fighter jets was shot down, believed to be the first loss of an Israeli plane in combat since 1982.
The charred remains of an Israel F-16 that crashed after coming under fire by Syrian air defences
Israel’s military said the attacks were in retaliation for the violation of its airspace by an Iranian drone. Pictured is Shahed-129 drone on display at a rally commemorating the 37th anniversary of the Islamic revolution
Israel has said it shot down the drone on February 10 after it entered the country from Syria, and responded with a raid on what it said was the Iranian control systems for the craft in Syria.
Calling Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif the ‘smooth-talking mouthpiece of Iran’s regime,’ Netanyahu said: ‘Mr. Zarif, do you recognise this? You should, it’s yours.’
Again referring to Zarif, who is expected to speak later in Munich, the Israeli leader said: ‘No doubt Mr Zarif will brazenly deny Iran’s involvement in Syria.’
‘He lies with eloquence.’
Responding to the attack, Zarif slammed Netanyahu for staging a ‘cartoonish circus’.
‘You were the audience for a cartoonish circus just this morning which does not even deserve the dignity of a response,’ he said, shortly after Netanyahu’s fiery speech.
Zarif also denounced what he said were Israel’s ‘almost daily illegal incursions into Syrian airspace.’
He said Israel was trying ‘to create these cartoonish images to blame others for its own strategic blunders, or maybe to evade the domestic crisis they’re facing.’
During the strikes last week, one of Israel’s F-16 fighter jets was shot down, believed to be the first loss of an Israeli plane in combat since 1982.
Israel’s response marked the first time it publicly acknowledged hitting Iranian targets in Syria since the 2011 start of the civil war there.
Israel has said it shot down the drone on February 10 after it entered the country from Syria, and responded with a raid on what it said was the Iranian control systems for the craft in Syria
The Israeli military has claimed the drone was a copy of a US model captured by Iran in 2011, based on an analysis of the drone’s debris.
Netanyahu also told world leaders, defence officials and diplomats at the Munich event that an agreement with Iran has ‘unleashed a dangerous Iranian tiger in our region and beyond’.
Netanyahu, a long-time critic of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, likened it to the infamous 1938 ‘Munich Agreement’ that Western powers signed with Adolf Hitler in an attempt to stave off war in Europe.
‘The concessions to Hitler only emboldened the Nazi regime,’ he said.
‘Rather than choosing a path that might have prevented war… those well-intentioned leaders made a wider war inevitable and far more costly.’
Tehran has denied that the drone belonged to Iran.
Netanyahu told the audience that destroying the drone was a demonstration of Israel’s resolve.
‘Israel will not allow Iran’s regime to put a noose of terror around our neck,’ he said.
‘We will act if necessary, not just against Iran’s proxies that are attacking us but against Iran itself.’
He also said: ‘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.’