Israel's finance minister: Iran has an orderly plan to destroy Israel
Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated that Iran has developed a detailed strategy for the destruction of Israel relying on extensive missile and rocket attacks followed by ground assaults.
“The Iranian regime has an orderly plan for the conventional destruction of the State of Israel,” said Smotrich speaking at a conference co-sponsored by the national-religious Makor Rishon newspaper and the Jerusalem College of Technology on Sunday.
According to the report of Ashkan Safaei, Iran International’s correspondent in Israel, Smotrich stated that this plan does not involve nuclear weapons. Smotrich stated that Iran wants nuclear weapons to ensure its survival.
In his speech, Smotrich detailed the strategy, which includes launching tens of thousands of missiles and rockets from various Middle Eastern locations where Iran has established military bases over the years. He indicated that this initial bombardment would be followed by coordinated ground attacks from multiple fronts, including internal fronts.
To counteract this threat, Smotrich proposed a multifaceted approach. He stated that Israel's response should be to strive to overthrow the Islamic Republic and, concurrently, neutralize all of its proxy forces in the region. He added that the response should be pursued on both political and military fronts.
Specifically, Smotrich pointed to Hamas and Hezbollah as Iran’s key proxies. He argued that Israel must first destroy Hamas "in a way that it cannot stand up and be a threat to Israel for a long time."
Additionally, he advocated for a swift and forceful strike against Hezbollah in northern Israel to incapacitate the group for at least a few years, so that it would not be a threat to Israel within Iran's broader regional ambitions.
Since the beginning of the current war in Gaza, Iran-backed Hezbollah has had daily clashes with Israeli forces along the southern borders of Lebanon.
Smotrich acknowledged that a war with Hezbollah would come at a high cost to Israel, but said “Any price we pay today will be much smaller than what we will be forced to pay in the future if we don't act."
Smotrich stated that the creation of a Palestinian state was a part of Iran's plan to destroy Israel. He emphasized that the Israeli government should fight this issue as well.
According to Ynetnews, in recent weeks, Iran has recently increased its weapons smuggling to Hezbollah, including critical air defense systems used to counter Israeli Air Force strikes in southern Lebanon.
In recent months, Hezbollah, designated a terrorist group by Israel and the United States, has attempted to target Israeli army drones, achieving some success. In response, the Israeli Air Force has targeted the intercepting systems or their parent units.
On Monday, the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) reported that Hezbollah is collaborating with Iran to establish a new front against Israel in the Mediterranean to neutralize Israel’s air force capabilities. According to the report, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah fears a preemptive Israeli Air Force (IAF) strike from bases in Cyprus, a scenario IAF practiced in recent military exercises in the last year.
On June 19, Nasrallah threatened Cyprus for the first time, accusing the country of assisting Israel: “The Cypriot government must be warned that opening Cypriot airports and bases for the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon means that the Cypriot government has become part of the war and the resistance will deal with it as part of the war.”
Last week, Nasrallah stated that the fate of the "Resistance Front"—an alliance of militant groups sponsored by Iran, including Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Houthis in Yemen, and Iraqi Shiite militias—is closely tied to that of its main sponsor, the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Additionally last week, amid escalating tensions, the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock urged Iran to take all necessary measures to prevent further escalation in the Middle East.
