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Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter, mentioned that in the ongoing conflict with Iran, there will be unexpected developments that will make last year’s explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon and Syria seem straightforward.
“We’ve pulled off a number of surprises,” Leiter said during a Tuesday appearance on the TV network Merit Street.
“When everything settles, expect surprises on Thursday night and Friday that will overshadow the beeper operation,” he stated further.
Leiter was referencing the near-simultaneous explosions of pagers owned by the Iran-supported Hezbollah group, which resulted in the deaths of at least 12 people, including two children, and injured nearly 3,000 individuals on September 17 in Lebanon and Syria. The subsequent day saw at least 25 fatalities and over 600 injuries due to detonations of walkie-talkies in the area.
Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said Israel was “not in the business of regime change.” (Getty Images)
“Today we continue to peel back the surface-to-surface missile systems that are spread throughout Iran. We’ve reached the point where between a third and a half have been demolished,” he said. “We hit today the broadcast center in the middle of Tehran after we informed the people living in the vicinity to leave. Hundreds of thousands of Tehranis have escaped Tehran to be out of the line of danger. And we took out the broadcast system. This is very important because this serves the mullahs and their information campaign, the propaganda campaign throughout.”
“Iran, to incite the public and to warn the public against any kind of demonstrations against the government,” the ambassador continued. “A lot of questions have been asked today about regime change. In many of the interviews that I gave, that was the key question. We’re not in the business of regime change. We’re interested in neutralizing the threat to our existence through a nuclear weaponization program in Iran and a ballistic missile program.”
Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful, and U.S. intelligence agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency have said Iran was not pursuing a nuclear weapon.
Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said the Jewish State has “pulled off a number of surprises.” (Getty Images)
“If the Iranian people rise up and change their regime, that’s their choice,” Leiter said. “And if we play a role in facilitating that eventuality, then history will judge us favorably, I believe. It’s important also to emphasize that our economy remains strong and resilient despite the war, and the stock market in Israel once again, for the second day in a row, continued to rise.”
“We are working very hard to assist those stranded both in Israel wanting to leave and those wanting to get back to Israel, to their families, to their positions in society and the army,” he added. “And we’re hoping to find solutions through our neighbors in the next couple of days. We continue to press on. We continue to press forward. And we thank you for your support and prayers.”
Fox News’ Greg Norman and Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.
