Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “finish the job” against Iran in a meeting with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was visiting the region for the first time since assuming the role.
“Over the last 16 months, Israel has dealt a mighty blow to Iran’s terror axis. Under the strong leadership of President Trump… I have no doubt that we can and will finish the job,” Netanyahu said.
Rubio said that the common thread for instability in the region is Iran and that there “could never be a nuclear Iran”.
“It’s important to constantly point that whether we talk about Hamas or we talk about Hezbollah, we talk about violence in the West Bank, or we talk about destabilization in Syria, or we talk about any of these issues the militias in Iraq, they all have behind them one common theme – Iran,” Rubio said.
“That must be addressed.”
These talks come after U.S. President Donald Trump proposed to take over Gaza and remove the two million Palestinians there to neighbouring countries.
In response, the UN has warned that the displacement of any civilians from occupied territory is strictly prohibited under international law.
In the meeting, Netanyahu noted that he and Trump have similar views on Gaza and that the “gates of hell” would be opened if all Israeli hostages held by Hamas were not released.
U.S. Intelligence has told both the Biden and Trump administrations that Isreal is likely to strike facilities key to Iran’s nuclear program this year and cautions that strikes on these sites could increase the risk of wider war in the Middle East.
The Israeli government initially launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to a cross-border attack on 7 October 2023. More than 48,200 people have been killed during the 16-month war and most of Gaza’s population has been displaced multiple times.
