Iran on Monday denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s threat to “finish the job” against the Islamic Republic as a violation of the UN Charter. Threatening others is both a flagrant violation of international law and the United Nations Charter,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a statement, noting Israel “can’t do a thing” to Iran.
On Sunday, Netanyahu informed a Jerusalem news conference with visiting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Israel would “finish the job” against Iran with its best friend, the United States.
Netanyahu also informed that Israel had “dealt a mighty blow to Iran’s terror axis” over the last 16 months. During this time, Israel has been fighting against Iran-aligned factions, such as Palestinian radicals Hamas in Gaza, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Huthi rebels.
They are part of what Iran calls its “axis of resistance” — a group of regional extremists united against Israel to support the Palestinians. US President Donald Trump, back at the White House in January, has renewed a “maximum pressure\” strategy towards Iran, following his pattern of behaviour during his first term.
According to this policy, the United States withdrew unilaterally from the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and global powers, accusing Tehran of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has consistently denied the allegations but has reduced its obligations under the accord and boosted enrichment levels to 60 per cent.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared on Sunday that Iran would never be a nuclear state, branding the Islamic Republic the “greatest” source of instability in the region. Baqaei on Monday stated that Iran’s nuclear activities are in line with the UN atomic agency’s safeguards protocol and reiterated Tehran’s adherence to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
