On the eve of Purim, I tell those who seek to claim
our souls, Iran and its proxies in the Middle East:
2,500 years ago, another Persian tyrant tried
to annihilate the Jewish people and just as he failed then -
you will fail today. We will not allow your extremist
and aggressive regime to acquire nuclear weapons.
We did not make the journey of generations of thousands back
to the Land of Israel, to allow the hallucinatory regime
of the Ayatollahs to end the resurrection story
of the Jewish people. We do not hang our jaws
on any agreement with an extremist regime like yours.
We have already seen the nature of agreements with extremist regimes
like yours, in the past century and also in this century,
with the North Korean government. With and without an agreement -
we will do everything so that you do not
arm yourself with nuclear weapons.
I’ve completed a situational assessment in a (IDF) division
protecting what is currently Israel’s most sensitive border.
If Nasrallah and Hezbollah’s threats turn into actions,
the outcome will be painful for Hezbollah,
its leaders and to my regret also for the citizens of Lebanon,
who are being used by Hezbollah as human shield when it hides
beneath their homes weapon caches and missiles.
I also met today with the residents of this front line,
Zionists, determined and lovers of the land.
We will continue to strengthen them in this beautiful region
and will prioritize fortifying the north,
which is part of our power in the face of our enemies.
In the Iran nuclear issue foreign ministers' meeting last December,
State Councilor Wang Yi proposed to convene an international meeting
-of all parties of JCPOA, plus the United States,
a step to initiate the agenda of the U.S. returning to the plan.
The European Union has recently put forward some specific ideas
about this, and China supports them,
and has been in close communication
among the stakeholders including the U.S. and Iran.
We expect the meeting can focus on discussion about the road map
for the United States and Iran to equally resume complying
the plan step by step, and strive for early gains.