There is no time limitation on the U.S.-Israeli military operation in Iran, Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said on Wednesday during a briefing with IDF brass at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
The operation led by U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “will continue without any time limit - until we achieve all objectives and win the campaign,” Katz said.
Katz congratulated the officers on the “very impressive achievements in offence and defense, and the joint activity with our American partners.”
The survivor leadership of Iran’s regime, he added, “are a bunch of cowards. They flex their muscles on on women, children, the elderly on the streets and specialize in slaughtering and killing civilians—and they are already threatening to murder and slaughter anyone who protests—but as we see, chief of staff, when they encounter real force they flee like mice into the tunnels, just like the Hamas leadership in Gaza,” Katz said.
The members of the Iranian regime are “Hamas counterparts, who, from tunnels, give orders to shoot at civilians and children in Israel and throughout the region. That’s what became of them: Hamas counterparts” in Iran, the defense minister told IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.
Katz said morgues in Iran were “full of dead terrorists, not civilians. We need to keep at it,” adding that “there is an impressive and systemic targeting of regime personnel, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its paramilitary volunteer militia, the Basij.
“Many thousands of them have been killed,” Katz said, and the Iranian regime “is trying to mask this, including by shutting down the internet” in Iran.
“We will continue to act and crush the regime and its strategic targets in Tehran and throughout Iran day after day, target after target, also to allow the Iranian people to rise up and kick out this regime. Ultimately, this depends on them,” he said.
Netanyahu and Trump “speak and coordinate daily” the military operation, “and determine policy, to be executed by you and CENTCOM and the U.S. armed forces,” Katz told the IDF officers.
Also on Wednesday, Zamir visited the Tel Nof Airbase near Rehovot, where spoke also about Israel’s actions against Hezbollah in Lebanon after it violated the terms the ceasefire with Israel in solidarity with Iran.
“We continue to strike and weaken the terror axis—from the head in Tehran to its central arm in Beirut. The Hezbollah terrorist organization is paying the price for standing alongside Iran. We will not give up on disarming the terrorist organization; this operation will help us accelerate that process,” he said.
Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of CENTCOM, released a videoed statement on Wednesday in which he said the U.S. had about 50,000 servicemen in the Middle East.
“To date, we have struck more than 5,500 targets inside Iran, including more than 60 ships, using a variety of precision weapon systems,” Cooper said.
“Our dominance is not a solo effort. It’s a testament to the strength of our ironclad alliances. We continue to coordinate closely and effectively with Israel in this very large operation, and we are also coordinating and serving side by side with all of our partners in the Middle East,” the admiral added.
He said Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks have dropped significantly since the start of the campaign, while U.S. forces continue to target Iran’s missiles, drones and defense industry, including a ballistic-missile manufacturing facility.
U.S. strikes have destroyed an entire class of Iranian warships and damaged many naval vessels and facilities, including ships at Chabahar Port and near the Strait of Hormuz, Cooper said. He noted that the U.S. holds air superiority over large areas of Iran.
Cooper added, “A note about the Space Force: Our space superiority has been a critical enabler in this fight. Unseen by the world, the Space Force is doing two things. First, they’re degrading Iranian capability, and second, they’re helping to protect American forces.”
At the start of his message, Cooper said, “We continue to keep the families of our fallen heroes and our wounded teammates in our thoughts and prayers,” and, “I’m grateful for your selfless sacrifice, and I know that Americans across the country hold you in their hearts.”
