Michael Leiter, Israel's ambassador to the United States, told Newsmax on Friday that in taking on Iran, the neighborhood bully to the Middle East and Western civilization, Israel is doing a job no one else wants and from which everyone benefits, including moderate Islamic countries.
"Today, in the capitals of Saudi Arabia, the UAE [United Arab Emirates], Bahrain, they're applauding our activity," Leiter told "The Record With Greta Van Susteren."
"They're applauding our actions. They won't say so publicly, but no one is benefiting more than the moderates within the Islamic world because this is a radical death cult of a regime that's interested not only in doing away with Israel, not only annihilating Israel, but moderates within Islam, as well.
"So, we're doing the Middle East a big favor tonight, and not only the Middle East, beyond the Middle East as well, because this is a very, very bad actor connected to the axis of evil against the United States, Russia, China. This is an ally of, of China and Russia and all the anti-Americanism out there."
Israel had long threatened such a strike, but the Trump administration had been trying to negotiate a deal with Iran over its nuclear program. But the talks apparently snagged, one of three reasons Leiter said Israel had to strike.
"First, today is 61 days since [President Donald Trump] sent a letter to the supreme leader of Iran, giving him 60 days to come up with a solution to dismantling his nuclear weapons program," Leiter said.
"That's No. 1. The time is up. No. 2, the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Association, published a damning document yesterday, basically an indictment proving everything that Israel has been saying, everything our prime minister has been saying now for many years about the Iranian nuclear project. So, they were lying, and the international community proved that they were lying.
"But third, and most importantly, our intelligence showed that they [were] racing over the next few days to achieve a pairing of weaponization and Iranian enrichment, which would mean a nuclear bomb. We have no time."
Leiter said that Israel targeted Iranian nuclear and military sites, leading to the deaths of leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and nuclear scientists, while Iran has responded by lobbing missiles and drones at civilian targets in Israel.
"When we attacked last night in Tehran, we were focused on commanders of their terrorist organizations at the head of their army and air force," Leiter said.
"That's the difference. We target the bad actors. They target civilians. This is an evil, evil regime … that cannot be permitted to have a pathway to a nuclear weapon."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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