Israeli defence minister: Operation against Iran has no time constraints

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a recent interview that the operation, dubbed “Operation Lion’s Roar,” against Iran will continue without time constraints until the “terrorist regime in Tehran” is removed. 

According to him, the initial strike against Iranian targets, originally planned for the evening of February 28, was moved to the morning hours after new intelligence became available. He added that Iranian leader Ali Khamenei was eliminated thanks to intelligence that accelerated the operation.

Katz said that Israel is coordinating closely with the United States in Iranian airspace and emphasised his full support for Aviv Kochavi, calling him the “right man for the moment” despite previous tensions between them.

He revealed that in November, a closed forum attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set the goal of eliminating Khamenei. The operation had been originally scheduled for mid‑2026, but fears that Iran could launch a preemptive missile strike against Israeli and U.S. forces amid domestic unrest led to its acceleration.

Regarding the scale of the operation, Katz said that the force of the initial strike and the removal of Khamenei were achieved after Netanyahu secured close cooperation with the U.S. president, including intelligence sharing and target clarification. He described the operation as historic, with Israeli and U.S. forces working together, and confirmed that Israel is now deploying three times more troops than in the previous Operation dubbed Rising Lion. 

By Sabina Mammadli