Iran is also a threat to Europe, Israel's EU and NATO ambassador says
"Iran possesses a threat not only to Israel, (but also) to the region and to Europe," Israel's ambassador to the European Union and NATO, Haim Regev, told Euronews in an interview on Thursday.
"They are involved in promoting terror, they are involved with provocation, they are involved in many, many acts. So they are already the main cause for instability in the region and for the world," he explained.
Regev was speaking to Euronews as day seven of the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran shows no sign of ending.
Early on Thursday, Iran fired 20 ballistic missiles at Israel, with one striking the Soroka Medical Centre inBe'er Sheva.
The barrage from Iran appeared to be in direct retaliation for Israeli strikes on Tehran's nuclear infrastructure the previous day.
"Iran has a clear plan for the annihilation of the state of Israel," Regev said.
"In the last period, we saw that Iran is accelerating its programme, its plan, in two main aspects. First of all, its nuclear programme and second, production of missiles, surface-to-surface missiles. So we come to a point where we saw we need to act to remove this threat."
Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran on Friday morning, killing several key figures from within the country's security apparatus and a number of nuclear scientists.
The first wave of strikes, which involved around 200 fighter jets, took out at least four senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders, as well as hitting nuclear and military targets across the country.
But Regev dismissed the idea that the main target of the IDF operation is regime change in Iran.
"The target of this military operation is to remove the nuclear threat and the missile threat. As I mentioned, Iran has a concrete and operative plan. And this is the main goal of this, our military operation right now," he told Euronews.
The conflict has also led to an escalating war of words, particularly between US President Donald Trump and senior Iranian officials.
When asked by reporters on Wednesday whether he intended to bring the US military into the conflict to strike Iran alongside Israel, Trump said, "I may do it, I may not do it. Nobody knows what I'm going to do."
While Trump appeared to avoid a direct commitment to military action, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu interpreted his comments as a show of support and, in a television address later on Wednesday evening, thanked Trump for "standing by us".
Into that mix came Iran's mission to the United Nations, which said no officials from the country would "grovel at the gates of the White House" to reach a nuclear deal with the United States.
And it's Iran's nuclear programme which sits at the core of the current military escalation.
Iran was previously subject to an international nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) which saw the country receive sanctions relief in exchange for strict limits on its nuclear activities.
During his first term in office, Trump withdrew the US from the pact in 2018, slamming it as "The worst deal ever negotiated" and slapping new sanctions on Iran.
Since then, the other signatories to the deal have scrambled to keep Iran in compliance, but Tehran considers the deal void and has continued with uranium enrichment, which at current levels sits at 60%.
That's still technically below the weapons-grade levels of 90% but is still far above the 3.67% permitted under the JCPOA.
Iran maintains that its nuclear programme is peaceful and purely for civilian purposes. Israel, on the other hand, says Tehran is working towards the construction of a nuclear weapon, which could be used against Israel.
"We, as democracy, when we go to a war, it's only if we do not have a choice or it was initiated by the other side. So we went to this war because we didn't see any other choice," Regev said.
"Israel did not come here to solve the problem of the world. Israel come here to solve its own threat that come from Iran. But due to the success, I see here an opportunity."
"And I hope that diplomacy will play a role, but this time will be more concrete, practical with the specific outcomes," Regev concluded.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he is open to meeting with Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but only during a "final stage" of negotiations.
"I am even ready to meet him [Zelenskyy] but only if it is some kind of final stage, o as not to sit there and divide something endlessly, but to put an end to it" Putin said on the sidelines of the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Wednesday.
Putin said that Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have agreed to hold another round of discussions after 22 June. Two rounds of direct peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv failed to make progress on ending Russia's full-scale invasion, now in its fourth year.
"We are ready for substantive talks on the principles of peaceful settlement," Putin said. He highlighted that the previous negotiations had led to the exchange of prisoners and the bodies of soldiers killed in the conflict.
Putin also reiterated his false claim that Zelenskyy is not Ukraine's legitimate president after his term expired last year.
This accusation has been roundly rejected by Kyiv and its allies, as Ukraine's constitution makes it illegal for the country to hold national elections while it's under martial law.
During the meeting with senior news agency editors, Putin also talked about the conflict between Israel and Iran, NATO, and Russia's relations with the West.
In overnight attacks, Russia struck six Ukrainian regions, having launched 104 Shahed-type strike UAVs and various decoy drones. Of these, 40 were destroyed while 48 were jammed or disabled by electronic warfare, according to Ukraine's military
In Kyiv, emergency workers recovered more bodies on Wednesday from the debris of a nine-story apartment building in the Solomianskyi district, which was destroyed by a Russian missile strike. The death toll from this latest attack on the Ukrainian capital has risen to 28.
Officials reported that 23 of the victims were inside the building when it was hit and collapsed during what has become the deadliest Russian assault on Kyiv so far this year. The other five fatalities occurred in other parts of the city.
The overnight assault from Monday into Tuesday was described by Zelenskyy as one of the largest attacks since the war began.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
35 minutes ago
- Euronews
EU review indicates Israel breached human rights in Gaza
Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip indicate a breach of the human rights provisions contained in its Association Agreement with the European Union, a highly anticipated review from the bloc's diplomatic service has found, citing a collection of findings by independent international organisations. The breach stems from Israel's war on Gaza and the stringent conditions applied to the deliveries of humanitarian aid, which have stoked fears of widespread famine among Palestinians living in the densely populated enclave. It also covers Israel's decades-long occupation of the West Bank, where settlers have engaged in violent acts. Europeans have reacted with shock and fury at reports of Palestinians being killed by the Israeli army while waiting for supplies at distribution sites. The review was conducted by the European External Action Service (EEAS) and sent to member states on Friday under a restrictive format to avoid leaks. "There are indications that Israel would be in breach of its human rights obligations under Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement," a senior diplomat told Euronews, quoting the conclusions contained in the document. The review was launched last month at the request of 17 countries, led by the Netherlands, to determine whether Israel was still complying with Article 2 of the Association Agreement, which states bilateral relations "shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which guides their internal and international policy and constitutes an essential element of this agreement". Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden backed the Dutch call. Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy and Lithuania were against, and Latvia adopted a "neutral" position, sources said then. Israel decried the decision and called on Brussels to keep bilateral dialogue going. "We completely reject the direction taken in the statement, which reflects a total misunderstanding of the complex reality Israel is facing," a spokesperson of Israel's foreign ministry said in May. "This war was forced upon Israel by Hamas, and Hamas is the one responsible for its continuation." The outcome of the review will be discussed by ambassadors on Friday and Sunday and later by foreign ministers on Monday. High Representative Kaja Kallas will personally brief EU leaders during a summit in Brussels on Thursday. Kallas, who walks a fine line to keep all countries on the same page, has recently hardened her tone towards Israel and what she calls "weaponisation" of humanitarian aid. "It is very painful for me to see the suffering," Kallas said earlier this week. "When I'm hearing that 50 people have been killed in the line for getting flour, it is painful, of course, I ask myself, what more can we do?" It will be up to member states to decide what course of action, if any, the EU should take in response to the critical findings. Possible options include the complete suspension of the agreement, which is highly unlikely, or the partial suspension of certain provisions related to free trade, research, technology, culture, and political dialogue. Some options will require the unanimous support of all 27 member states, while others will require a qualified majority, meaning at least 55% of countries representing at least 65% of the bloc's population. Any decision to suspend the trade aspects of the agreement will be in the hands of the European Commission, and diplomats say that here too, an agreement will be difficult to reach. No action until July Given the short timing between the release of the review and Monday's meeting, concrete action is not expected to be taken until foreign ministers meet again in July. A senior diplomat said it was "difficult" to predict whether the 17-strong group will remain united on the next steps, but hoped the findings would help "increase pressure" on Israel to alleviate the human suffering inside the war-torn strip. "There are three important points that we want to see," the diplomat explained, speaking on condition of anonymity. "First, a full and immediate end to the humanitarian blockade. Second, meaningful steps towards a ceasefire that enable the release of all hostages. And third, we would like to see that no more steps are taken to make the two-state solution more difficult." The review coincides with the military escalation between Israel and Iran, which will also be high on the agenda when foreign ministers meet on Monday. It remains to be seen how the discussion on Iran will influence the deliberations on Gaza. A diplomat from another country said it was "critical" to keep the political attention on Gaza rather than "looking somewhere else", meaning Iran. "If the report goes as far as we imagine, how many member states will still be willing not to do anything and keep on saying that it's business as usual?" the diplomat said. "Those member states will have to justify their inaction." But the sense of urgency is not equally shared. Several capitals insist the EU should focus on keeping open lines with Tel Aviv instead of cutting them off. "For us, what is important is to keep a decent level of communication with Israel. We want to keep the Association Agreement as it is," a third diplomat said. "For many of us, trade with Israel is important, and we don't want to shut the doors." A fourth diplomat noted: "We're away the humanitarian situation is very bad (but) it won't stop being dramatic even if we do suspend the agreement." The review comes a day after Belgium, together with Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden, asked the European Commission to examine "how trade in goods and services linked to illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory can be brought into line with international law".
France 24
37 minutes ago
- France 24
Putin can't have a veto on Ukraine's EU membership: Parliament speaker Stefanchuk
Summing up his official visit to France, Stefanchuk says: 'I came with words of gratitude to the French people for the active support that we have been receiving. But also I came with words of request, a request that we need to continue this fight together, together with our friends all over the world, including Europe and France. I came with the words that what is extremely needed now in Ukraine, is the air defence system. This issue is connected with providing Ukraine more weapons to make sure that we can withstand this attack.' Stefanchuk elaborates; 'Let's be completely honest. War is a horrible math. Ukraine today is protecting the eastern flank of NATO from Russia's assault. And we are paying a terrible price for this. We're paying with the lives of our best sons and daughters. War includes the financial component, the military component and, unfortunately, the human component. And we must understand that, in order to win this war, we need to have all these components filled in. And of course, we are going to work with our partners to make sure that if we have less financial support (from the US), we'll be asking Europe to increase its support for Ukraine.' Stefanchuk adds that he also came to France to discuss the issue of frozen Russian assets, and 'legal solutions' to unlocking the assets. Many EU governments – including France – do not want to set an international legal precedent by fully using the assets. But Stefanchuk argues that if this is not done, a different kind of precedent will be set. 'We must find the mechanism to make sure that the one who violates the law is made accountable for these violations,' he states. 'If this is not done, then in the near future, anyone who has the strength, the power, and has no conscience, will do whatever they like, knowing that their assets are guaranteed. No! We must create the precedent according to which every criminal must know that they will pay for war with their money.' We turn to Ukraine's EU accession process, which has run into Hungarian opposition, despite the European Commission saying that Ukraine has 'done its homework' in three negotiating clusters. 'Ukraine, despite the war, is fulfilling all its obligations to the European Union. We adopt the laws, we carry out reforms. We are not asking for some excuses for Ukraine, for some simplified track,' Stefanchuk asserts. 'We honestly take our path, but we are also counting on the same kind of honesty from our European partners. And we want to make sure that Hungary is not a country that is Putin's veto on Ukraine's accession to the EU. Putin is not an EU member. He has no right of veto in the EU. This, I believe, is becoming a big threat for all the countries of the European Union, for all the NATO countries, because Putin is using some countries to block the alliance decisions. So this is a huge challenge.' Stefanchuk is adamant there is 'no backtracking at all' on anti-corruption reforms, despite the country slipping slightly in Transparency International's last Corruption Perceptions Index (2024). 'The situation has changed', Stefanchuk remarks. 'The Ukraine of 2025 is a different country from the Ukraine of 2005. Today we can hold top officials accountable, demonstrating to others that the fight against corruption is irreversible in our country. For example, the ex-head of the Supreme Court received a suspicion, and a couple of ministers received this notification of suspicion. That's the first time ever in the history of Ukraine. Ukraine's President Zelensky, the prime minister, and I, we all have a zero-tolerance approach to corruption.' Many countries were deeply concerned about Israel's attack on Iran on June 13. But Stefanchuk reminds viewers that 'Iran's Shahed drones terrorise Ukrainians every night. Of course, the weaker Iran and North Korea are, and the weaker Russia is, the better it is for us. The less peaceful citizens will suffer and the less Ukrainian infrastructure will suffer, the closer we will be to our common victory.'
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
No, this Israeli minister didn't say that he underestimated Iran's missile capabilities
"Why did you provoke Iran?' Omer Bar-Lev, former public security minister and member of the left-leaning Israeli Labor Party, supposedly said during a confrontation with the current national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who is a member of the far right. "We didn't realise the power of Iran's missile capabilities,' Ben Gvir supposedly responded. Social media users have been circulating a video apparently showing this conversation, which took place in Hebrew, along with a translation in English. The posts claim that the men were discussing the recent air strikes between Israel and Iran. The video was published on June 17 by an account called Silenced Sirs, which is known to share both conspiracy theories and content criticising Israel. The video has since garnered more than three million views on X. However, the video was taken out of context – and the translation into English is incorrect. A video from 2022 We ran the video through a reverse image search (see our easy guide to find out how to do one yourself). We discovered by doing this that the same video was published online back in March 2022 on the X account of the Israeli TV channel, Kan – a full three years before the current conflict between Israel and Iran broke out. The video actually shows a confrontation between the two men that took place on March 27, 2022, in the Israeli city of Hadera after a deadly attack took place there. That day, two men with links to the Islamic State group opened fire on Israeli police officers, killing two officers and injuring a number of civilians. The media outlet The Times of Israel reported on the confrontation between the two men at the time, confirming that the confrontation between Ben Gvir, a deputy at the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, and then security minister Bar-Lev, was about the terrorist attack that had taken place and not about recent strikes on Iran. 'Stop it! You should be ashamed! You're the worst minister … They took the most leftist person they could find and made him public security minister!' Ben Gvir shouted at Bar-Lev. 'No, I'm not ashamed, ' Bar-Lev responded. 'You should be ashamed! You're nothing!' The article reports that 'the verbal conflict escalated, with security forced to physically separate the two politicians". Since the start of the recent escalation between Israel and Iran, there have been a number of disinformation campaigns where videos and photos taken out of context have been widely shared –
