Israel will act if Iran resumes its pursuit of nuclear weapons, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said Thursday, adding that the country's policy of preempting Tehran's nuclear ambitions remains unchanged.
“We have the capabilities to know exactly what they are doing. If we see they are going back to the same track, when they are there, then we have to make a decision,” Danon told Iran International in an exclusive interview.
“I hope they’ve understood that not only Israel, but also the US, will follow closely what is happening on the ground,” he added.
Danon said Israel's posture remains one of strategic surveillance: “We’ve done this for many years—until we reached a point of no return, and then we acted. Now we are monitoring and watching closely what is happening on the ground.”
He declined to say whether Israel would replicate its targeted operations in Lebanon on Iranian soil. “I won’t go into what we might do in the future, but I look at the endgame: Iran will not have nuclear capabilities. That is something we cannot accept,” Danon said.
“When we saw the regime launching missiles at hospitals and civilian areas, we understood that they will use whatever they have against us,” he continued. “We cannot allow them to possess weapons of mass destruction or to threaten our existence.”
Israel and Iran are currently in a tenuous ceasefire following a 12-day military exchange. The Israeli campaign struck nuclear, military, and strategic sites across Iran. In response, Iran launched waves of ballistic missiles and drones toward Israeli cities.
The United States intervened in the final phase of the conflict, conducting targeted airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities. It marked the first direct US military action on Iran's nuclear infrastructure.
