By Alexander Cornwell
JERUSALEM, March 17 (Reuters) – Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday the country had effectively won its war with Iran, but gave no indication of when the conflict might end, saying only that the campaign would continue until its objectives were achieved.
Speaking at a news conference, Saar said Israel was seeking to remove “existential threats”, but did not say how the government would determine when those goals had been met.
“One must be patient,” he said, speaking on the 18th day of a war that has killed more than 2,000 people, most of them in Iran and Lebanon, but also in Israel, Iraq and across the Gulf.
Saar and other Israeli officials have said the aim is to significantly weaken Iran’s ability to carry out attacks against Israel over the long term, while creating conditions inside Iran that could ultimately enable Iranians to overthrow their rulers.
But Saar on Tuesday also acknowledged that “the regime” in Iran could only be toppled by the Iranian people – an apparent acknowledgement that a rising does not look imminent.
The Israeli military has said it has been carrying out air strikes on Iran’s ballistic missile launchers, and storage and production facilities. It has also bombed sites it said were linked to Iran’s nuclear program, and attacked security forces.
“We have already won,” Saar said, describing Iran as “dramatically weakened” and no longer the country it was before the war began on February 28 with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes.
“This is clear for us and for our neighbours but we will continue until the point that the mission is complete,” he said.
Even as Saar claimed victory, echoing remarks by President Donald Trump on March 11, Iran fired numerous salvos of missiles at Israel on Tuesday, highlighting Tehran’s continued ability to conduct long-range strikes after more than two weeks of war.
The Trump administration has offered mixed signals on when the conflict might end, at times suggesting it could conclude soon while also indicating the campaign remains under way. Israeli officials have provided no timeline, and the military says it has war plans for the next three weeks and beyond.
“We are doing a very important job,” Saar said, shortly after the country’s defence minister, Israel Katz, announced that the military had killed top security chief, Ali Larijani.
The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has thrown the region into upheaval, with Israel now also fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Tehran carrying out strikes on Gulf Arab states.
Iran has also effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz at the entry to the Gulf where 20% of the world’s s oil and liquefied natural gas flow, raising energy prices and fears of inflation.
Several U.S. allies have rebuffed Trump’s call to send warships to escort tankers through the waterway, with some criticizing Washington and Israel for failing to consult them before launching the war. Saar described Iran’s blocking of the waterway as “modern piracy,” and said it was a global problem.
Estonia’s foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, speaking alongside Saar, signaled that the NATO and European Union member was open to taking part in a U.S.-led mission to reopen the strategic waterway, but said that Washington first needed to clarify its objectives and what support it was seeking.
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell, Editing by William Maclean)
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