Tehran’s ballistic missile arsenal poses a threat to both the Middle East and Europe, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said on Sunday, underlining a major concern in Jerusalem amid U.S. talks with the Islamic regime.
His remarks, made during a visit by the Paraguayan foreign minister in Jerusalem, come as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to highlight the threat of Iran’s ballistic missiles and funding for terrorist proxies during his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday.
“The huge amount of long-range ballistic missiles that the Iranian regime seeks to produce endangers Israel, but not just here,” Sa’ar said. “The regime already used missiles against other countries in the Middle East. European states are also threatened by the range of these missiles.”
He said that Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq cannot realize their sovereignty because of the presence of militias funded and armed by the Iranian regime, which destabilizes the Middle East and seeks to spread its terrorism to other continents, including Latin America.
“The attempt by the most extreme region in the world to obtain the most dangerous weapon in the world—a nuclear weapon—is a clear danger to peace in the region and the world,” Sa’ar said.
‘One of Israel’s greatest friends in the world’
Israel’s top diplomat praised Paraguay as “one of Israel’s greatest friends in the world,” commending the South American nation for its “clear moral dimension in its foreign policy” as manifested in returning its embassy to Jerusalem in December 2024 and its consistent support for Israel in multilateral fora.
“Paraguay unequivocally and indisputably supports Israel’s right to exist and defend itself,” Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez Lezcano said. “This position was only strengthened and reaffirmed … after the brutal attacks of October 7, 2023.”
Landlocked Paraguay has a long history of friendship with Israel, dating back to its vote for the creation of the modern-day Jewish state at the United Nations in 1947.
