Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News host Mark Levin that Iran is developing intercontinental ballistic missiles and wants to arm them with nuclear warheads that could reach American cities. In the same interview, he described Europe as the Islamic Republic's "middle-sized Satan." The interview aired Saturday night on Life, Liberty & Levin.
Netanyahu said the regime's ultimate target is the United States, not Israel. "They understand that if they can destroy Israel, then they can conquer the Middle East, control the waterways of the world... and then proceed to the next target, which is you. That's why they're building intercontinental missiles: to reach the United States," he said.
"And then every single city in the United States, every single city, will be held hostage to the blackmail of these fanatics," Netanyahu warned. "So the only way you can deal with it is to basically to get rid of this regime."
He described how Tehran ranks its enemies, with America as "the great Satan" and Israel as the "little Satan." He then addressed Europe: "I hope you're not offended. You're a middle-sized Satan." The Jerusalem Post quoted him adding, "you are mediocre in so many ways."
Netanyahu also criticized Europe more broadly. "Europe is an exhausted continent. They have no will to fight. They succumb to these Islamist constituencies in there, and the woke left and Islamist bond," he said.
He called Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, whom he groups as the "three H's," "arms of this toxic octopus," which he said the Ayatollahs direct. He separated the rulers from the public: "It's not the Iranian people. The Iranian people are great people."
Netanyahu dismissed the prospect of a lasting agreement with Tehran. "You can't win them over. You can't buy them out," he said, adding that "no deal holds more than two seconds, because they do one thing consistently and reliably. They lie." Arutz Sheva quoted him as saying a nuclear Iran would lack the "careful calculus of cost and benefit." The Jerusalem Post rendered the phrase as "careful calculus of cause and benefit."
He called confronting the regime "a long process. It's both military and economic," and praised US President Donald Trump as "absolutely brilliant." He recalled a meeting at Mar-a-Lago before the last US presidential election, where Trump raised the need to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Netanyahu listed three priorities for another term:
- Eliminating the Iranian threat to Israel, America and the world
- Expanding the Abraham Accords
- Making Israel a global leader in artificial intelligence
He also cited the International Monetary Fund to argue that Israel's economy leads Western countries in growth "after three years of war."
Turning to the upcoming election, Netanyahu said, "First, I have to get elected. And by the way, I fight every campaign as though I'm [going to] lose, and that's the only reason I win. But I have to fight it in the coming week, and I will."
He also defended the IDF's conduct in Gaza. Israel sent "millions of flyers, millions of phone calls, millions of text messages" urging Palestinian civilians to leave combat areas, he said, while Hamas used neighborhoods and hospitals for military purposes.
