Israel’s top diplomat Gideon Sa’ar told Euronews no “timeline” has been set for the military operation alongside the United States which began on Saturday.
ADVERTISING
ADVERTISING
He said neither Israel nor the US “seek to impose (a new leadership) from the outside” but suggested the strikes which resulted in the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could create the conditions for the people of Iran to raise against the regime.
“The future leadership of Iran should be determined by the Iranian people through free elections. Our only requirement is that whoever comes to power in Iran must not pursue the destruction of Israel,” he told Euronews.
He also set there is no time horizon set for the duration of the military operation.
“Naturally, we want the operation to be as short as possible, but no exact end date has been determined,” he added. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sunday that it would mobilize 100,000 reservists as the strikes on Tehran continue.
Sa’ar brushed off criticism that the strikes are in violation of international law, saying it “justified for a state to protect itself against another calling its destruction.”
With Europe playing no role in the military operational and some EU member states kept on the margins, the Israeli foreign minister suggested that the lack of a “unified position” from the European meant that they could not share operational details compared to the United States, which he called Israel’s great friend and ally.
“In Europe, you have all kinds of approaches,” he said while attacking the Spanish government whom he accused of “standing with Iran.”
On Saturday, the Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez was among the most vocal critics of what he called an operation that “represents an escalation” for the region.
Watch the full exclusive interview on Euronews at 8pm CET Sunday.