Defense Minister Yisrael Katz delivered an extended security briefing on Tuesday to the members of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee at the Kiryah in Tel Aviv, which mainly focused on the IDF’s activities during the war against Iran.

At the meeting, Katz revealed that one of the reasons for the launch of the war was that Iran had planned a surprise attack on Israel. “The Iranians planned to act first and launch between 400 and 500 missiles in the opening strike,” he said. “If we hadn’t acted first, it would have been far worse for us.”

He added that the main challenge in the operation was opening the skies and thwarting Iran’s air defense systems: “We controlled the skies and could have continued, but we decided in advance to achieve the objectives and end strongly.”

He added, “We made a distinction during the war and harmed more Revolutionary Guard operatives than soldiers in the Iranian army. While we wanted to eliminate Khamenei, he hid.”

“We met 100% of the operation’s objectives in Iran,” he said, noting that most of the operation was carried out by Israel alone, while the US joined only in the final stage. “The Americans faced three options—to join, to prevent, or to approve. They chose the third option: they gave a green light and later also joined.”

Regarding the phone call between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump over Israel’s strike on Iran following its violation of the ceasefire, Katz joked, “If Trump had woken up 15 minutes later, the attack this morning would have been stronger.”

Katz also mentioned that Netanyahu is expected to travel to the US to influence the formulation of a nuclear agreement. “Netanyahu will fly to the United States to formulate the agreements with the Americans on Iran. Right now, it’s just a ceasefire. We must remember that Trump canceled the central sanction on Iran to sell oil to the Chinese, and Iran may become stronger again as a result.”

He emphasized that there was no goal to overthrow the Ayatollah regime: “Harming elements of the regime was not part of the goals—it happened incidentally.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)