00:00Ambassador, thank you so much for joining us and let me go back to you because those are the comments
00:04from the head of the European Council, the head of the European Parliament, the top European diplomat, the Spanish Prime
00:10Minister.
00:10They say this war needs an exit and we are now seeing major escalation, having huge economic repercussions. This war
00:17needs an exit. You heard it yourself. How do you respond to that?
00:44Thank you so much.
00:50Winning the war in diminishing their military capabilities.
00:58And sir, when you say we are winning the war, what does that mean? What does victory mean in the
01:03eyes of Israel?
01:04Well, we have to take out their nuclear program. We have to get rid of their missile program. We have
01:10to stop their assistance sending money to the proxies.
01:15They sent one billion dollars last year to Hezbollah and to the Houthis.
01:20They sent money and to Iraq and everyone else. And they have to stop terrorizing their own people.
01:26You know, now there is the Nowruz festival in Iran and the people there cannot go out freely and celebrate.
01:37But sir, you know, a few weeks ago I spoke with your foreign minister, Gideon Saar, who said ultimately it
01:42comes down to the Iranian people to decide who leads them.
01:45But Israel wants to create the conditions on the ground for regime change.
01:49What we're seeing now, however, is retaliation from Iran, a mess in the energy market.
01:54The regime is still in place, doubling down, and we're not seeing protests.
01:57So, again, I ask you, how are you winning the war?
02:00Well, the regime is weak. We have taken out their military leaders and they are now really, I think, much
02:11weaker than they were three weeks ago.
02:15Their nuclear program cannot continue. Their missile program cannot continue.
02:20The people are there, have been suffering for so many years, and I think that we will see some change
02:28in Iran.
02:31What do you mean by that? We're going to see some changes in Iran. What do you mean by that?
02:36Well, it's about time that this regime is weakened in a way that the people there can say what they
02:44want, what they want for their own future.
02:46It's not up to Israel to decide what is their future, but definitely this regime of terror has really got
02:54to go.
02:57Okay, and I ask you, what do you mean by that?
03:00Because today, once again, we heard from the president of the U.S. giving a timeline that is at times
03:05erratic, saying this will end soon, no trips on the ground,
03:08and also saying the goals will be met, but it's unclear what it means for the U.S.,
03:12and also saying that Israel cannot hit energy fields in the Middle East.
03:17Do you see that as the U.S. now unhappy, calling you out?
03:24Yes, so, first of all, Maria, I'd like to tell you what happened just two days ago when the Iranians
03:31sent missiles on Jerusalem,
03:33and debris fell on the holy places in Jerusalem, on the Holy Sepulchre, on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and on
03:40the Temple Mount, the Kotel.
03:41And I don't hear the world calling out the Iranians for terrorizing Israel's civilians and terrorizing 12 countries in the
03:50Middle East.
03:51What about them shooting towards Europe, towards Cyprus, towards Turkey?
03:56Why are we not here? Why are we not here? People say to Iran, stop terrorizing your own people, the
04:02region, stop trying to stop the oil going through the Hormuz Straits,
04:10doing these things that are terrorizing the world. It's about time that Iran stops their behavior, and we see a
04:18change there.
04:21So you say, why is the world not calling this out? Does that mean that you're alone, ultimately?
04:26We've seen today European leaders still saying this needs to stop, this escalation.
04:30The Spanish prime minister is saying this war is illegal. Do you feel alone?
04:34No, we definitely do not feel alone. The United States and Israel is in this war together, and we have
04:41a lot of support internationally.
04:43We hear a lot of calls on diplomacy from the Europeans. I think this is not time for diplomacy.
04:50This is time to really end diplomacy and to start seeing a change in Iran.
05:00Well, Ambassador, thank you so much for joining us on Euronews today.
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