New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) A day after Israel launched ‘Operation Rising Lion’ – a targetted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat of nuclear weapons, Reuven Azar, the country’s Ambassador in India, said that the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to take the preemptive action in order to defend the country’s very existence.

Speaking exclusively with IANS, the diplomat also did not rule out the possibility of Prime Minister Narendra Modi brokering peace between Tehran and Jerusalem in order to bring an end to the conflict in the volatile region.

Excerpts:

IANS: Why was it important for Israel to strike Iran at this juncture?

Reuven Azar: According to our intelligence, the Iranians were very close to arming a nuclear weapon. They were exploiting the time that President Trump gave them in order to negotiate during these 60 days. They formed a clandestine group that was working to assemble a nuclear weapon and that was the imminent threat we had. Therefore, we took action to prevent annihilation because this is what the Iranians want – to destroy our State. We are not going to allow it

IANS: Do you think that Iran would have succeeded in developing a nuclear weapon had Israel not carried out the strikes?

Reuven Azar: Yes, we have no doubt. Nuclear technology is already 80-years-old. It’s not something that is complicated to do. The question was whether the Iranians are going to again breach their statement that they are not going to assemble a nuclear weapon. We knew that they were cheating. The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) has said several times, including in a report they gave last week in a resolution that was passed in the Board of Directors, that Iran has actually breached the safeguards agreement in the framework of the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty). For us, it is an existential issue because when a country as radical and fanatic as the Ayatollah’s regime in Iran swears to destroy us, we take it seriously. And when they try to acquire the weapons to do so, we take it even more seriously.

IANS: Is the IAEA to be blamed for failing to take action against Iran?

Reuven Azar: The IAEA is doing its work. We have been asking and urging the IAEA to act and check the information we and other Western powers supply them. They have been slow in doing that. But, they finally did that and they are the ones who determined that Iran is cheating again. Therefore, this is a very dangerous and precarious situation. Israel had to take preemptive action in order to defend its own existence.

IANS: Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has vowed revenge, how serious is this threat?

Reuven Azar: Well, we always take these threats very seriously. As you know, Israel is in a state of emergency. We have instructed and advised our citizens to stay near shelters. We have seen several barrages of drones and ballistic missiles fired at Israel. Unfortunately, last night, two Israeli civilians died as a result of a hit by a ballistic missile into an urban area. The Iranians are committing yet another crime, a war crime, by firing these ballistic missiles at urban areas.

IANS: Do you see involvement of any other country when it comes to supplying Iran with nuclear materials like uranium?

Reuven Azar: In the past, we have seen a very massive involvement of rogue states like North Korea. We know that Iran is capable of using uranium in order to enrich it with advanced centrifuges and this has increased the urgency to deal with the problem. We tried diplomatically, decade after decade. Many countries engaged with Iran and tried to convince it to divert from this disastrous path. They refused and are now paying the price.

IANS: India has urged both Israel and Iran to de-escalate the tension. How do you assess India’s position in this context?

Reuven Azar: India is a very good friend of Israel. We have had the discussions at the highest level yesterday. Our Prime Minister spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The National Security Advisors spoke with each other and our foreign ministers also had a conversation. We know that India also has a good dialogue with the Iranians. The challenge here is how to get this fanatic regime in Iran to act peacefully. The people of Iran are urging a situation in which their future will not be sequestrated by this regime that has invested tens, if not hundreds and billions of dollars, in this armament race, quest to have hegemony in our region and to develop weapons of mass destruction. This has to change and I hope India can help us with that.

IANS: Do you think Prime Minister Modi can help mediate peace talks between Iran and Israel?

Reuven Azar: We respect Prime Minister Modi. I think he is a great leader. He has proved to be very effective for the prosperity of the Indian nation. We do not discard that possibility.

IANS: India’s neighbour Pakistan is another nuclear nation which is involved in terrorist activities…

Reuven Azar: The international community should do more to punish terrorists and to also punish and isolate those who sponsor terrorism, and that includes all the States that sponsor and harbour terrorism.

IANS: Reports suggest that Israel smuggled explosive drones and warplanes into Iran before the attack, are they true?

Reuven Azar: We have had confirmation from several security authorities in Israel that we have used several methods to defend ourselves. One is through the airport, and the other is through some presence on the ground. We, of course, are not giving specifics of that. We are going to continue to defend ourselves in the most creative ways that we will find fit.

IANS: Do you think there will be a further escalation in the Israel-Iran conflict?

Reuven Azar: We are already in a pretty much full-fledged war with Iran. They have been, for 30 years, attacking us, sponsoring terrorism, harbouring terrorists, helping, financing, training, supplying sophisticated weapons, and supplying the means to produce these weapons to proxies like Hezbollah, like the militias in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and more. They have been constructing this huge ballistic missile programme to destroy us. And they have been, most gravely, acquiring a nuclear weapon. Therefore, there’s no doubt that there is a war between us and Iran. The question is for how long this is going to continue and what is going to take until the Iranians understand that they are not immune; they will pay a price, and they are paying a price for their aggression.

IANS: What has been the reaction of the Gulf countries, are they backing the Israeli action?

Reuven Azar: We have seen a lot of countries that are concerned. We have common interests with many Arab countries in our region. With many of them, we have done peace accords. I think that they are worried because they might be attacked by Iran as well. But, I think that they are quietly pretty satisfied that Israel is neutralising this threat that actually already has proven itself very dangerous to them as well.

IANS: What is Russia’s position on this issue? Does Israel enjoy Russia’s support in this matter?

Reuven Azar: We have a dialogue with Russia. We have been able, from time to time, to get into an understanding in order to make sure that it (Russia) doesn’t supply sophisticated weapons to genocidal countries like Iran. We will continue that conversation to make sure that our security interests are safe.

IANS: Do you think Mossad did a good job in planning the latest attack?

Reuven Azar: I think that all our intelligence agencies have proven to be very professional and very accurate in executing what the Israeli cabinet directed them to do.

–IANS

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