Netanyahu to US Lawmakers: 'Iran is 50 North Koreas'
JERUSALEM, Israel – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a group of U.S. lawmakers Thursday that the United States needs to be as concerned as Israel is about Iran's advancing nuclear program.
As the bipartisan delegation – headed by House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) – met at the Prime Minister's Office, Netanyahu cautioned, "Iran is 50 North Koreas. It is not merely a neighborhood bully like the dynasty that rules North Korea. This is an ideological force that views us, Israel, as the small Satan, and views you as the Great Satan. To have Iran being able to threaten every city in the United States with nuclear blackmail is a changing of history."
Netanyahu's admonition came on the same day Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on an official visit to Greece that Iran has progressed to the point where it has the material to make nuclear weapons.
"While one Iranian arm spreads weapons and (terrorist) proxies, the other continues its program to obtain nuclear military capabilities," Gallant explained. "And make no mistake – Iran will not be satisfied with a single nuclear bomb. So far, Iran has gained material enriched to 20 percent and 60 percent for 5 nuclear bombs."
Meanwhile, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday became Tehran's first president in 13 years to visit Syria, one of the country's closest client states. Israel has frequently conducted air strikes in Syria against Iranian targets there, destroying military installations and killing members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps stationed near Israel's border.
A Palestinian representative based in Damascus, Khaled Abdul-Majid, told The Associated Press that Raisi assured the Palestinians it would continue to provide them with weapons and money.
“The Palestinian leaders thanked Iran for its support to the resistance and the Palestinian cause,” Abdul-Majid said.
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