Saudi Coup Watch: PM Warns Visiting Former US Officers Iran Seeks To Conquer Jordan, Saudi Arabia

PM warns visiting former US officers Iran seeks to conquer Jordan, Saudi Arabia 

Netanyahu tells delegation that destroying Hamas is first step to ‘scuttle’ Iranian plans to dominate Middle East Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday warned visiting former US generals and admirals that Iran hopes to topple Middle Eastern regimes such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and that the first step to stopping their plan was to defeat Hamas. At a meeting in Tel Aviv’s Defense Ministry headquarters, Netanyahu told the delegation sent by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America that the ongoing “seven-front” conflict was being managed by Israel’s arch-foe Iran, which sought to conquer its regional neighbors, namely Jordan. “Their goal is to have a combined ground offensive from various fronts, coupled with a combined missile bombardment. We’ve been given an opportunity to scuttle it,” Netanyahu said. “The first requirement is to cut that hand, Hamas.” “The people who did this thing to us are not going to be there,” he pledged, in an apparent reference to the October 7 massacre, and the ongoing attacks against Israel by Iranian proxies across the region. “We face a long battle — I don’t think it’s that long — but we’ll get rid of them.” Netanyahu added that Israel also must “deter the other elements of the Iran terror axis,” referring to Iranian proxies operating in the Middle East. “But we have to deal with the axis,” he said, arguing that the Iran-backed alliance is “on a march to conquer the Middle East… to conquer Saudi Arabia, conquer the Arabian peninsula.” “It’s just a question of time,” he added. “What’s standing in the way?” he asked. “The ‘small Satans’ — that’s us,” he added, referencing Iran’s disparaging nickname for Israel. Netanyahu said Iran plans on later going after the “medium-sized Satans” — Europe — then the American “Great Satan.” War erupted on October 7, when Hamas-led terrorists rampaged through southern communities, murdering some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages to Gaza while committing brutal atrocities. Since then, Iran-backed terror groups and militias in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen have launched drones and rockets at Israel, claiming to be acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Most notably, since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces in Lebanon have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, while the Houthi rebels have attacked commercial vessels sailing through the Red Sea and launched missiles and drones at Israel. In an unprecedented escalation, on the night of April 13-14, Iran launched its first-ever direct missile and drone attack on Israel in response to an alleged Israeli strike in Damascus that killed a top IRGC commander. Meanwhile, Tehran has been working to smuggle weapons into the West Bank in support of Palestinian terror groups operating there. A war between Israel and Hezbollah in particular could be devastating to both Israel and Lebanon and incur mass civilian casualties. Hezbollah’s rocket arsenal is far more extensive and robust than Hamas’s. An escalation in the conflict on the northern border could trigger wider involvement by other Iran-backed terror groups in the region, while possibly drawing in Tehran directly. Source