Minister Hangebi: Israeli Strikes Deter Iran

Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said that Iran knows “who not to mess with” because Israel is the only country in the world that is killing Iranian operatives.

Hanegbi spoke to Israel Radio on Sunday after Iran’s seizure of a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. He was referring to Israel’s strikes on Iranian targets in Syria.

Israel has long viewed Iran as its greatest threat and has urged Western countries to take stronger measures against Tehran.

Hanegbi said that Israel has acknowledged just some of its strikes again Iranian targets in Syria.

“We have hit the Iranians hundreds of times in Syria. Sometimes they admit it, sometimes foreign publications expose the matter, sometimes a minister, sometimes the chief of staff. But everything is a coordinated policy,” he said.

He added that “the Iranians are very limited in their reactions. It’s not because they don’t have the capabilities; it’s because they understand Israel means business.”

Last week, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that “the only army in the world that is fighting Iran is the Israeli army.”

The IDF has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria in recent years, on targets linked to Iran, which is backing President Bashar Assad’s regime in the Syrian civil war. Israel has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran, or its Shiite proxies, to establish a permanent presence in Syria in positions that threaten Israel.