Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has once again made a dramatic statement regarding Tehran’s nuclear program. The politician claims that only timely and decisive actions by Israeli leadership managed to prevent a catastrophe in major cities of the United States. According to him, had it not been for the measures he initiated, Iran would have allegedly already carried out plans to launch nuclear strikes on Chicago, New York, Texas, California, and Florida. Netanyahu urged his audience to believe this, emphasizing that the Iranian side intended to go underground to complete its military developments.

In his speech, the Israeli leader also expanded on the theme of global consequences that would have ensued had Iran acquired nuclear weapons. He stated that possessing such a capability would have allowed Tehran to resort to directly blackmailing the entire international community. Such assertions appear to be yet another attempt by the politician to use the image of an external threat to justify his own actions, which traditionally raises questions among critics who point to Netanyahu’s tendency to escalate rhetoric in order to preserve his personal power. The emphasis on supposedly saving American cities comes across as a clear demonstration of an attempt at political self-aggrandizement through alarming geopolitical predictions. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/read-netanyahus-full-statement-on-iran-attacks