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PM, IDF chief stress Israel’s readiness to return to war with Iran amid fresh fighting
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir all declared on Thursday that Israel would be ready to return to war with Iran at a moment’s notice, following a renewal of hostilities between the Islamic Republic and the United States, which Jerusalem has yet to be drawn back into.
The three spoke at a graduation ceremony for Israeli Air Force pilots, whom President Isaac Herzog noted in his speech were the first graduating cohort to start and finish the years-long pilot course during a single war.
Zamir, in his remarks, said that the war against Iran was “not over.”
“On the drawing board are new plans,” said Zamir. “Major operations are still expected to lie ahead of us. Be prepared,” he said in brief remarks.
The IDF chief said he decided not to deliver his planned remarks after the lengthy speeches already delivered by Netanyahu, Katz, and Herzog.
“You’ve been through captivity training, which also prepared you for this ceremony,” he quipped to the pilots.
In his planned speech, Zamir had intended to say that hundreds of Israeli Air Force planes have been on standby for “immediate takeoff” in recent weeks, as the military remains on high alert for developments across the Middle East.
“Even at this moment, we are closely monitoring developments in Iran and Lebanon and remain on high alert for immediate action,” the prepared text of the speech read.
Netanyahu’s speech also touched on the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah, with the premier telling the graduating pilots that Israeli forces would remain in Lebanon for as long as they need to.
“We will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon for as long as necessary to guarantee the security of our communities in the north,” he said.
Lebanon is demanding that Israel fulfill its pledge to withdraw from two “pilot zones” in the nation’s south and hand them over to the Lebanese military before it agrees to participate in the next round of direct talks, scheduled for next week in Rome. Israeli forces would still retain a buffer zone in southern Lebanon.
Turning to the campaign against Iran, the premier repeated his oft-stated pledge that “with or without an agreement, Iran will not possess nuclear weapons.”
He noted that the US military was “a tremendous force multiplier” for Israel.
Without mentioning it directly, Netanyahu also made an oblique reference to US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he intends to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, one of Israel’s most vocal critics and a NATO member state.
“The war is not over,” said Netanyahu. “Alongside old challenges, new ones continue to emerge. Old axes collapse, and new ones arise. We are preparing for every scenario. We know one thing: we must always remain stronger than our enemies.”
“Preserving Israel’s air superiority is a cornerstone of our national security doctrine. It is equally essential for maintaining stability in the turbulent Middle East,” he said, echoing arguments he made this week against the sale. “We achieve this by continually improving both our people and our technology.”
Katz, meanwhile, stressed that the IDF was “alert and prepared for the resumption of the campaign” in Iran.
He told the graduating pilots that the military was prepared to “regain air superiority and carry out ‘blue and white’ [independent Israeli] strikes in Iran to remove threats — even for a third time.”
“If we need to return, we will return with even greater force,” Katz vowed.
Meanwhile, Channel 12 reported on Thursday night that Israel was preparing for the possibility that Iran could expand its range of targets to include Israeli bases from which American aircraft have operated, such as Nevatim and Ramon.
There was ongoing coordination between the IDF and US Central Command on the matter, the report added.
But despite the appetite of Israel’s political and military leadership for a new round of fighting with Iran, the report cited US officials as saying that Washington was not keen to bring Jerusalem back into the fray.
According to Channel 12, US President Donald Trump was expected to convene his senior advisers and national security officials shortly to discuss Washington’s next steps.
A US official told the outlet that the fighting could last anywhere between a couple of days and a month, depending on whether Iran continues attacking commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.”
“We’re going to slap them a bit so they understand we’re not fucking around,” the official said.
But the report said there was currently little desire in Washington for Jerusalem to enter the fighting.
Instead, one option under consideration is reimposing a US naval blockade on Iranian ports — a step Trump has publicly floated — though no decision has been made, the report says, adding that many officials around the president believe such a move would be the right course of action. The US first imposed a blockade after Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz following the launch of the war.
