Dubai: Defense minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that Israel was “prepared to resume the war against Iran,” adding that his country was awaiting a green light from the United States to return Iran to “the Stone Age.”
“The IDF is ready both defensively and offensively, and the targets have been marked,” Katz said in a video statement.
“We are awaiting a green light from the United States — first and foremost to complete the elimination of the Khamenei dynasty… and additionally to return Iran to the Dark Age and the Stone Age by destroying key energy and electricity facilities and dismantling its national economic infrastructure,” he added.
The opening US-Israel attack of the war on February 28 killed Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, whose son later succeeded him but has yet to appear in public, creating speculation over his condition and if he is still alive.
“This time, when the attack resumes, it will be different and lethal, adding devastating blows at the most sensitive points — following the tremendous strikes the Iranian terror regime has already sustained — that will shake and bring down its foundations,” Katz said.
President Donald Trump said Thursday he has ordered the US military to “shoot and kill” small Iranian boats that deploy mines to choke traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s post on social media came shortly after the US military seized another tanker associated with the smuggling of Iranian oil, ratcheting up a standoff with Tehran over the strait through which 20 percent of all crude oil and natural gas traded passes.
“I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be…that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump posted. “There is to be no hesitation. Additionally, our mine ‘sweepers’ are clearing the Strait right now.”
“I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level!” Trump added.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced an indefinite extension of the ceasefire between the United States and Iran, which came into effect on April 8, to create space for talks with Tehran.
Plans for renewed negotiations in Pakistan hang in the balance.
The Middle East war has engulfed the region, leaving several thousand people dead, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, and continuing to destabilize the global economy.
