Netanyahu Warns Iran: "If You Attack Israel, the Response Will Be Very Powerful"

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the confrontation with Iran today (Sunday) and made clear that Israel will not allow Tehran to obtain nuclear weapons, while warning of a harsh Israeli response to any Iranian attack. At the same time, a report in The "Wall Street Journal" reveals that Netanyahu prevented the late Republican senator Lindsey Graham from trying to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to join the fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon, out of concern over an escalation that would become too broad.

In an interview with "Fox News," Netanyahu said the future of the Iranian regime depends on a fundamental change in its conduct: "The regime in Iran must fall, or the people there must understand that they cannot go on like this, firing at their neighbors in the Gulf, and that is without nuclear weapons. They must fall or be significantly weakened. That is what U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to achieve in the agreement, and that is good. But either way, they will not have nuclear weapons."

Speaking about New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, Netanyahu said that he "celebrated the October 7 massacre and supports Hamas. Hamas are the ones responsible for genocide, and they would kill all the Jews in Israel and around the world if they could."

The prime minister added a direct warning to Tehran, saying that "if Iran attacks Israel indirectly or directly, it will be making a mistake, because Israel's response will be very powerful."

Meanwhile, The "Wall Street Journal" reported that Netanyahu prevented Graham from trying to rally Trump to join the campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon. According to the report, which is based on previously unpublished footage from a documentary about the Republican senator, Graham had planned to fly to Florida at the beginning of March to persuade Trump to join Israel in bombing Hezbollah.

But before the trip, Netanyahu spoke with him by phone and convinced him to back away from the idea. According to the footage, which was filmed before Graham's death earlier this month, the prime minister explained that expanding American involvement at that stage would be too extreme a step, given the campaign that was underway against Iran.

"We are focused on Iran right now," Netanyahu told Graham in a conversation held on March 4, according to the report. "If we tell Hezbollah that we are going all the way, we are threatening it. But if we actually do that, it will no longer have any reason not to go all the way against us. And right now, that is not in our interest," he added, as the conversation was being conducted on speakerphone. According to the report, Graham accepted Netanyahu's position and replied: "That really is good advice."