Iran’s plans to destroy Israel were “not merely theoretical ideas but an existential threat to our lives,” Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said on Wednesday following the truce with Tehran.
“In the months leading up to the war, Iran advanced a plan based on massive standoff fire alongside a multi-front ground invasion. All of these plans shared one common goal: to destroy the State of Israel,” Zamir said in taped post-ceasefire remarks on Wednesday night.
“They were not merely theoretical ideas but an existential threat to our lives in this country,” continued the military leader. “We are fighting for our survival with force, and we are taking the fire to enemy territory.”
The campaign was managed “according to the moral imperative that if someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first,” Zamir declared.
הרמטכ״ל: ״לאחר שניים עשר ימים של לחימה חסרת תקדים - צה״ל פעל במיטבו ועמד באופן מלא בתכלית ובמטרות המבצע״
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) June 25, 2025
״בהתאם להערכת בכירי אגף המודיעין בצה"ל, הפגיעה בתוכנית הגרעין איננה פגיעה נקודתית אלא פגיעה מערכתית - ההישג המצטבר מאפשר לקבוע כי פרויקט הגרעין האיראני ספג פגיעה קשה, רחבה… pic.twitter.com/2txNQR9rF4
In recent years, and also after the beginning of the Swords of Iron war, the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate analyzed large quantities of intelligence that revealed that Iran had a concrete program, which it called “The Destruction of Israel Plan,” the IDF revealed on June 13.
In parallel with Iran’s efforts to obtain nuclear weapons, the regime had focused on producing “tens of thousands” of missiles and drones, while advancing its plans to carry out a “combined ground offensive against Israel on multiple fronts simultaneously,” the announcement said.
According to the military, the Islamic Republic’s war plan would start with a “large-scale rocket and missile barrage” on Israel, launched by the regime’s terror proxies in Lebanon, Yemen and across the region.
Amid the aerial assault, thousands of Islamic terrorists were to invade Israel from Gaza, Judea, Samaria, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Yemen. The Iran-backed forces would seek to “destroy the State of Israel and establish a Palestinian state on its ruins,” the IDF revealed.
Zamir said on Wednesday that “after years of preparation and months of meticulous and accelerated planning in the IDF,” the June 13 opening strike against Iran’s nuclear program was “surprising and decisive.”
“According to assessments by senior officials in the Military Intelligence Directorate and our nuclear experts, the blow to the nuclear program was not surgical but systemic,” the IDF chief said, adding: “We struck the main facilities, factories, industries and centers of knowledge.”
“The accumulated achievement allows us to say that Iran’s nuclear project suffered a severe, broad and deep setback—setting it back by years,” Zamir confirmed. “We also inflicted serious damage on their missile capabilities, destroying hundreds of launchers and missiles, while creating a significant delay in their force-building program.”
Jerusalem’s achievements were “amplified thanks to the actions of the United States military,” which he had maintained “close contact” with during the entire 12-day military operation, he added.
“‘Operation Rising Lion’ has ended, but the campaign is not yet over,” he said. “Many challenges still lie ahead. We are a remarkable people. The IDF exists to create a secure future for us and for our children.”
“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet,” he concluded, citing Isaiah 62:1.
U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the ceasefire deal between Israel and Iran was holding up “very good.”
When asked about Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s threat that Tehran would rebuild its nuclear program, Trump said, “The last thing they want to do is enrich anything right now—they want to recover.”
An Israel Atomic Energy Commission report on Wednesday found that the U.S. military’s airstrikes against Iran’s Fordow enrichment plant had destroyed critical infrastructure, rendering the site “inoperable.”
The IAEC assessment noted that the American assault, “combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran’s military nuclear program,” had set back Tehran’s abilities to develop nuclear weapons “by many years.”
“The achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not get access to nuclear material,” continued the report, the conclusions of which were published by the Prime Minister’s Office shortly after the White House shared them with reporters in Washington on Wednesday morning.
