Netanyahu vows to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, boost arms production

Jerusalem, July 9 (IANS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel would not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons and would expand domestic arms production to reduce dependence on foreign purchases.

“Our policy is clear: with an agreement or without an agreement, Iran will not have nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said at an air force pilots’ graduation ceremony.

If the United States and Israel had not launched the strikes on Iran, “Iran would have armed itself,” he said, Xinhua news agency reported.

Netanyahu also announced plans to add 350 billion shekels (about 116 billion US dollars) to the defence budget over the next decade.

“A large part of this will go to the air force, but within it we will also develop a broad Israeli-made munitions industry,” he said, adding that the move would “reduce dependence on purchases from abroad.”

The remarks came as the United States and Iran exchanged new strikes, with US President Donald Trump saying a deal with Tehran was “over.”

Israel’s military chief, Eyal Zamir, said Israel was “closely monitoring developments in Iran and Lebanon and ready for immediate action,” while Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military was “alert and ready for the resumption of the campaign.”

Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that Israeli forces would remain in Lebanon until Hezbollah is fully disarmed.

“We did not ask permission from any party to enter Lebanon, and we do not need permission to remain in Lebanon,” Katz said in a statement released by his office.

He said Israeli troops would remain in southern Lebanon “as long as needed, until Hezbollah is disarmed throughout Lebanon.”

Katz said Israeli troops had established what he described as “a strong security zone in Lebanon,” adding that the forces hold an area stretching from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to Beaufort Castle, near Arnoun in southern Lebanon, and the approaches to Mount Hermon in the east.

–IANS

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