As the conflict enters its third week, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has vowed to target Benjamin Netanyahu amid the ongoing war with Israel and the United States, the AFP reported.
“If this child-killing criminal is alive, we will continue to pursue and kill him with full force,” said the Guards on their website Sepah News.
Meanwhile, at least 15 people were killed when a U.S.–Israeli missile strike hit an industrial area in Isfahan, according to Iran’s semi‑official Fars News Agency. The attack struck a factory in the central Iranian city, killing workers inside.
“The attack targeted a factory that produces heating and cooling equipment”, and was in operation at the time of the strike, Fars reported.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday said, “Iran calls on brotherly neighbors to expel foreign aggressors, especially as their only concern is Israel.”
Iran’s top diplomat had earlier termed US-Israel’s operation “Operation Epic Fury” as Operation Epic Mistake, and said, “The claim that Iran was planning on attacking the U.S. or U.S. Forces, whether preventively or preemptively, is a sheer and utter lie. The sole purpose of that lie is to justify Operation Epic Mistake, a misadventure engineered by Israel and paid for by ordinary Americans.”
Tensions between Iran and Israel have deep historical roots. Since the Iranian Revolution, Iran’s leadership has rejected Israel’s legitimacy, with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei once referring to Israel as a “cancerous tumour” in the region.
Mojtaba Khamenei was named to succeed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after the elder Khamenei was killed on February 28 during the opening strikes of the war.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, criticised Iran’s leadership and described Mojtaba Khamenei as a “puppet” of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, claiming he is unable to appear publicly. Netanyahu also said the current conflict has fundamentally changed the regional balance, asserting that Israel is now taking the initiative with unprecedented military force.
On the other side, Netanyahu has spent decades warning that Iran is close to developing nuclear weapons that could threaten Israel, a concern he famously illustrated with a cartoon bomb diagram during a speech at the United Nations in 2012.
Over the years, Israel has carried out covert operations against Iran’s nuclear program, including cyberattacks such as Stuxnet, assassinations of nuclear scientists, and strikes on Iranian-linked facilities in Syria, along with more recent direct military actions targeting Iranian sites.
Turkey says ‘as long as Netanyahu is…’
Hakan Fidan, the foreign minister of Turkey, told the Associated Press on Saturday that there are currently no meaningful attempts to resume negotiations between the United States and Iran, though he believes Tehran may still be willing to engage in indirect or back-channel talks.
“As long as Netanyahu is there, (Israel) will always identify somebody as an enemy,” he said. “Because they need it to advance their own agenda. If not Turkey, they would name some other country in the region.”
Relations between Turkey and Israel remain strained, with Recep Tayyip Erdogan emerging as one of the strongest critics of Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip. Turkey has suspended trade with Israel and repeatedly accuses it of carrying out genocide.
Turkey voiced strong concern on Saturday over Israel’s continued strikes on Lebanon, warning that the campaign could lead to what it described as “another genocide” under the justification of combating the Iran-backed Hezbollah. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Ankara fears Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may escalate the conflict under this pretext and urged the international community to respond quickly to what he called ongoing crimes.
Netanyahu faces ‘active’ arrest warrant by ICC
Netanyahu faces an active arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in November 2024. The court said there are reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant bear responsibility for alleged crimes committed during the Israel–Hamas war.
These include the alleged war crime of using starvation as a method of warfare and crimes against humanity such as murder and persecution by restricting essential supplies to civilians in the Gaza Strip.
However, Netanyahu has rejected the accusations, calling the ICC biased and antisemitic, while organisations such as Amnesty International have urged that he be brought to trial.
(With inputs from agencies)