00:05How it has shaped the operation in the Iran War, 2026.
00:13We're working hand in hand in order to achieve our goal.
00:16And our goal is that the Iranian terrorist regime that poses an existential threat.
00:23What do you think the kind of role that they have played
00:27with regards to escalating the tensions when it comes to Israel?
00:34They have a concrete plan behind the scenes to destroy Israel.
00:38And that plan includes a lot of different military capabilities.
00:44A terrorist regime with terrorist ideology.
00:47It's not anything other than a strategy to target civilians and to terrorize people.
00:55What do you think as per timeline?
00:57When is the current conflict going to end?
01:01It's very clear that we have here a story of good versus evil.
01:13Today, we have been joined exclusively for an interview with the Deputy to the International Spokesperson for the Israel Defense
01:22Forces, Lieutenant Ben Cohen.
01:24Mr. Cohen, thank you for joining us and taking the time out for speaking to us at this important juncture
01:32and help us with the important developments in the ongoing conflicts involving the United States, Israel and Iran.
01:40Your insights are extremely, extremely important at this critical point.
01:45Mr. Cohen, first, I would like to understand about this unprecedented military collaboration between the United States and Israel.
01:57How it has shaped the operation in the Iran War, 2026?
02:02Well, first of all, thank you for having me.
02:05So, the joint cooperation between the United States Armed Forces and the Israeli Air Force and the Israeli Army in
02:12general is one of the most unprecedented operations that we've seen.
02:17Not because we haven't had coordinated operations in the past.
02:21You know, the United States Armed Forces struck also in Operation Rising Lion last June.
02:25But because here it's not only cooperation, it's joint coordination.
02:30We're working hand in hand in order to achieve our goal.
02:33And our goal is that the Iranian terrorist regime that poses an existential threat to the State of Israel and
02:39a threat to the entire region, as you've seen,
02:41doesn't have the military capabilities to pose the same threat.
02:44And we're doing that hand in hand very, very effectively.
02:47And we appreciate our American partners because, you know, they're doing an impeccable job.
02:52As you mentioned, it is a united goal when it comes to Israel and the United States.
02:58And in that case, when such a situation arrives, the intelligence sharing point plays a very huge role.
03:06So, if you could just shed some light as to how the real-time intelligence sharing has changed or progressed
03:13between the United States and Israel since 2025.
03:18So, we work hand in hand behind the scenes, not just on the intelligence front.
03:23You know, our air forces work in coordination.
03:25Our operations work in coordination.
03:27And we make sure that everything that we do is in sync.
03:30So, that goes for the intelligence and it goes for everything else.
03:33And obviously, it's a force multiplier.
03:35You know, when you have, as the Americans put it, the two strongest air forces in the world working hand
03:41in hand to achieve a goal.
03:43And they can do that in sync, targeting different parts of the Iranian military array.
03:48And they have a very wide military array.
03:50It makes, naturally, the things more effective.
03:54Mr. Cohen, moving forward, if we talk about Iran and the proxies.
03:58In your opinion, when it comes to Iran or its proxies like Hezbollah, what do you think the kind of
04:06role that they have played with regards to escalating the tensions when it comes to Israel?
04:11Look, the Iranian terrorist regime has built for years a plan to destroy Israel.
04:17By the way, this isn't like a message.
04:19They have a concrete plan behind the scenes to destroy Israel.
04:23And that plan includes a lot of different military capabilities.
04:26So, it's their ballistic missiles.
04:28It's their nuclear program that they're building.
04:30And it's also their proxy network.
04:31The same proxy network that they've funded, supported militarily for years.
04:35The same proxy network that includes Hamas that, you know, killed and murdered Israeli civilians on October 7th.
04:42That includes the Houthis.
04:44That includes a lot of different forces.
04:47And between them, Hezbollah.
04:48And so, you know, last week, when Hezbollah makes a decision, an organization that claims internally in Lebanon to be
04:54for the protection of Lebanese people,
04:56decides in response to an operation that's, you know, a U.S. and Israel operation in Iran to fire missiles,
05:03rockets, UAVs at Israeli civilians,
05:05they're proving, once again, that they serve that same Iranian interest.
05:09So, that proxy network is something that we've been handling for years.
05:13And right now, we're feeling it on the Hezbollah front.
05:15Because, you know, we have civilians in the north.
05:17They came back home after, in the beginning of the war, we had to evacuate them because of Hezbollah's firing.
05:23And we can't allow for a situation where tens of thousands of civilians have to evacuate from their homes
05:28because Hezbollah is firing at civilians intentionally.
05:32Latina and Cohen, now that we are on the kind of role Iran has played,
05:39or the kind of role the proxies have played,
05:42ever since this coordinated effort when it comes to Israel and the U.S. since late February of this year,
05:53just after that, we saw how Iran attacked various countries in the Middle East.
05:59We have been seeing what's been happening in Dubai.
06:01We saw what happened in Qatar.
06:03We saw what happened in Behrin, for that matter.
06:06Do you think, is it the time now that these Gulf countries, there's a need for retaliation?
06:14And if it were to happen, what kind of role is Israel expected to play in such scenarios?
06:20So, I'm an IDF spokesperson. I speak for the IDF's activities.
06:25I can tell you that Iran's attacks over the last week and a half, I think,
06:30proved something that we've been saying for a year and maybe some doubted.
06:33And that's that the Iranian terrorist regime really is a regional threat, right?
06:37It's not that they're targeting American bases and IDF assets.
06:41They're targeting civilians. They're targeting civilians in Israel.
06:43And they're targeting civilians in Gulf countries and in Europe, right?
06:47Because that's what they do. They want to destabilize the region.
06:50They're a terrorist regime with terrorist ideology.
06:53It's not anything other than a strategy to target civilians and to terrorize people.
06:58And so, you know, however that impacts the region, that's for the region to decide.
07:03I'm an IDF spokesperson. I speak for IDF activity.
07:06But I think it's important to know that a regional threat isn't just a message
07:10that we're sending out into the world. It's a concrete threat.
07:13And we've seen it over the last week and a half.
07:16You just mentioned how it is a concrete threat.
07:21This situation has entered in its week two.
07:25So as for you, as someone who has been very closely monitoring what has been happening,
07:32what do you think as per timeline, when is the current conflict going to end?
07:37And with the elimination of the Iran's supreme leader now,
07:43what as per IDF or for that matter from the US and Israel's point of view altogether,
07:50what is the last name in the coffin?
07:52Well, look, we started this operation with what we call a golden opportunity, right?
07:59It isn't just on any day where you can create a window in time in which you eliminate 40 senior
08:04commanders,
08:05including the supreme leader.
08:06And those next 100 hours that followed that opening strike are, you know,
08:21by the way, so even in the immediate timeframe, they can fire less at the entire region and at Israel.
08:27Right. And that's that first step.
08:29Now we've moved on to the second step of the operation where we're deepening the deterioration of the terrorist regime
08:34and its military capabilities.
08:36We're starting to see fractures and their ability to handle their military capabilities and their ability to run that show
08:43of that existential threat that we've been talking about.
08:46And we're going to keep operating for as long as it takes until we know that the loaded gun pointed
08:50to our head isn't there anymore.
08:52Right. This isn't a means of taking a ticking time bomb and diffusing it at the last second and waiting
08:57to the next time that it goes off.
08:58We're talking about removing the bomb so it's not there anymore.
09:01We can't allow for this threat to exist, not now and not for another operation that we'll have to run
09:06in a year or in two years.
09:07We don't want this threat to exist anymore.
09:09So as long as that takes, that's as long as we'll go.
09:13If we suck it back to the supreme leader and how you just mentioned that Israel,
09:20or for that matter, the United States will go on for as long as you completely defuse the threat that
09:27emerges from Iran, from the soil of Iran for that matter.
09:33It is being said, a lot of reports have claimed that the elimination of the supreme leader was a joint
09:40effort, a coordinated effort of the CIA and Mossad.
09:44So in such cases, as for you, what do you think the kind of role or how important the role
09:51of these agencies are in such scenarios or in such markets?
09:56Naturally, with intelligence, we don't speak to any intelligence that happens behind the scenes.
10:00You know, we have to make sure that our surprises are already along the line and we have a lot
10:05of them.
10:06You know, it's not simple to be able to do the, frankly, I have to say very impressive things that,
10:11you know,
10:12Israeli and American intelligence have been able to provide over the course of this operation.
10:16And we're going to keep those secrets in house.
10:20My last question to you, Lieutenant Cohen, if we were to say that if World War III were to break
10:27out,
10:28as someone who has been associated with the IEDF, as someone who has been closely monitoring, as I mentioned earlier,
10:35whatever has been happening on the ground, which countries do you think will extend their support to Israel?
10:41And what kind of support do you expect as a country from India?
10:47So, again, I'm only an IEDF spokesperson.
10:49I can speak to the IEDF operation at this point in time.
10:53But I think that, you know, as a message to India and to anyone in the world who's watching,
10:59I think it's very clear that we have here a story of good versus evil.
11:03Right.
11:04And so when we're talking about the Iranian terrorist regime, you know, the tactics, the firing at civilians,
11:09the supporting of Hamas that, you know, murdered and raped Israeli civilians on the 7th of October,
11:13the creation of a proxy network that's ultimate goal is to destroy another sovereign state, I think, tells the story.
11:20And if that didn't tell the story enough, then what's happened over the last week and a half,
11:24the Iranian terrorist regime firing all over the region at Europe and at the Gulf states, I think,
11:30proves where this terrorist regime interests are at, you know, externally and also internally,
11:35shutting off the Internet for their own people, killing tens of thousands within their own country.
11:39And I think that's the story, a story of good versus evil.
11:42So I would hope that, you know, now and at any point in the future, we understand, the world understands,
11:49the people in India understand, and I know they do, that, you know, we're fighting a war of good versus
11:54evil.
11:54And at the end of the day, we're looking to protect civilian lives while the other side is looking to
11:59hurt them.
12:00Thank you, Lieutenant Pohen, for your such insightful perspective on an issue which is, at the very moment, the event
12:10is evolving.
12:11It is such an important juncture.
12:14So we are very thankful for you that you joined here and spoke to us exclusively.
12:20Thank you so much for your time.
12:21Thank you for your time.
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