Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Israeli public on the events of the last 24 hours, the Israeli news agency TPS reported, quoted by BTA.
First, Netanyahu recalled the Israeli strikes against Iran last year and stated: "Iran will not have nuclear weapons". He then compared the Israeli strikes on Iran to the attacks on the pro-Iranian Shiite armed movement "Hezbollah", stating that the terrorist organization had planned to attack the Galilee (in northern Israel) with thousands of terrorists and simultaneously devastate Israeli cities with 150,000 rockets and shells.
However, Israel has thwarted this threat and continues to destroy "their entire terrorist infrastructure in the security zone, including the huge underground facilities in the Beaufort Ridge".
"Iran and "Hezbollah" are weaker than ever", Netanyahu said, "and we are stronger than ever - but our fight against them is not over yet". "As I have been doing for decades... I firmly defend our right to act against our enemies. That's what we did now," he stressed.
"They thought they would fire at Israel from Lebanon and Iran - and we wouldn't react. That didn't happen and it won't happen," he added.
"After Hezbollah fired at Israeli territory, I ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to strike terrorist targets in Beirut and eliminate Hezbollah operatives there. We did that," Netanyahu said.
"After Iran attacked Israel, I ordered the Israeli armed forces to strike military and economic targets throughout Iran. And we did it," he continued.
The Israeli prime minister then said that Iran had stopped its missile attacks on Israel because Israel had retaliated. "If the terrorist regime in Iran makes the mistake of resuming its attacks on us, we will respond with force," he promised. "Israel has the full right to self-defense, and we exercise it when necessary," Netanyahu stressed.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu confirmed that after last night's confrontation, military action with Iran had been suspended. In a video message, the Israeli prime minister said that Tehran had ceased fire and added that if Iran made a mistake and attacked Israel again, his country would respond with full force, DPA noted.
Israel and Iran exchanged blows for the first time since a ceasefire came into effect in April, after Iran fired missiles at Israeli territory last night and Israel struck back.
This afternoon, Iran's military leadership announced that the attacks on Israel had ended. In a statement broadcast on state radio, the military said that the Islamic Republic had delivered a "painful retaliatory blow" of Israel and announced the cessation of its military operations.
Earlier today, following the mutual strikes between Israel and Iran, US President Donald Trump called Netanyahu, a White House representative told Agence France-Presse.
In a post on his social network "Truth Social", Trump called on both sides to immediately cease hostilities between them.
In recent weeks, relations between Trump and Netanyahu have become strained after the US president went so far as to call the Israeli prime minister "completely crazy" during a recent phone call. Trump confirmed this in an interview with the "New York Post".
Yesterday, in an interview with the American news website "Axios", Trump warned the Israeli prime minister not to take any retaliatory action after Iran's missile strikes. "I'll call Bibi right away to tell him not to retaliate. Israel has struck, Iran has struck. There's no need for another one," he stressed.
The resumption of hostilities is not to Trump's taste, who has long promised to conclude an agreement that would end once and for all the conflict that began on February 28, which is extremely unpopular among Americans.
On the Israeli side, Netanyahu is under pressure to maintain a tough stance on Iran.
In an interview published yesterday with the "Financial Times" newspaper, Trump said that the Israeli leader should accept any agreement negotiated by Washington with Iran. "He has no choice", Trump said. "I'm the one who decides. I decide everything. He doesn't decide,", Trump stressed.