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ISRAEL WAR - Fears that Israel is planning yet another escalation of its multi-front Middle East war mounted Monday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a recorded speech to the people of Iran vowing that they would soon be "free" from their current leadership.
Addressing the "noble Persian people" in English, Netanyahu accused Iran's theocratic rulers of plunging the region "deeper into darkness."
"When Iran is finally free—and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think—everything will be different," he said.
"He posted English 'addresses' to the people of Gaza and Lebanon right before bombing them."
"When that day comes, the terror network that the regime built in five continents will be bankrupt, dismantled," Netanyahu claimed, adding that Iran will then "thrive as never before."
However, critics noted that such proclamations by the right-wing Israeli leader have previously portended attacks on the people he claimed to be saving.
"He posted English 'addresses' to the people of Gaza and Lebanon right before bombing them," Zeteo News reporter Prem Thakker said on social media.
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute, a U.S.-based foreign policy think tank, made a similar comment.
In recent weeks, Israel has attacked Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, the West Bank, and Gaza—where its conduct is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide trial. More than 147,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Thousands more have been killed or injured in Lebanon, where the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Friday reportedly used U.S.-supplied 2,000-pound bombs to kill Hezbollah leaders including Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah along with an Iranian general, and an unknown number of civilians in the densely populated southern suburbs of Beirut.
Israel has already attacked Iran, assassinating Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31. Israel also bombed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria in April, killing seven people including diplomats and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps senior commander Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi.
"There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach," Netanyahu ominously claimed during his speech on Monday.
Netanyahu's speech came as IDF tanks amassed along Israel's border with Lebanon, sparking fears of a possible ground invasion.
Addressing some of these IDF troops near the Lebanese border, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that "in order to ensure the return of Israel's northern communities, we will employ all of our capabilities, and this includes you."
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese have evacuated their homes due to cross-border fighting between the IDF and Hezbollah, which began attacking Israel with rockets, drones, and other weapons in solidarity with Gaza after the October 7 Hamas-led attack and Israel's massive retaliation.
When asked during a Monday press conference if he was "comfortable" with Israel invading Lebanon, U.S. President Joe Biden—whose administration has provided Israel with diplomatic cover and billions of dollars in weapons—said: "I'm comfortable with them stopping. We should have a cease-fire now."
Israel invaded Lebanon in 1978, 1982, and 2006, killing and wounding tens of thousands of civilians. Israeli forces occupied southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said during a Sunday government meeting that Tehran must give a "decisive" response to Israel's assassination of Nasrallah.
"This crime once again proved that this criminal regime does not adhere to any of the international principles and rules," Pezeshkian said of Netanyahu's far-right government, according to Iranian media reports.
On Monday, Pezeshkian visited Hezbollah's Tehran office and signed a memorial guestbook honoring Nasrallah.
"The U.S. and supporters of the Zionist regime showed the world how human rights, human dignity, and international regulations are violated," he wrote.
(Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams where this story was first published.)
