Israel Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon Talks Israel's Attack on Iran
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Israel launching another round of attacks on several locations in Iran. President Trump reportedly telling ABC, quote, I think it's been excellent and there's more to come. Joining us now to discuss this, Danny Danone, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations. Ambassador, good morning. Thank you for having me, Don. Thank you for sharing some of your time with us because I'm sure you've been exceptionally busy. Let's just talk about where things stand right now. Is this operation ongoing? And ultimately, what are the goals?

Well, the goals are very clear. We want to make sure that Iran will not pose a threat, not only against Israel, but against the entire Western civilization. And specifically, we have two main goals. To eliminate the nuclear capabilities and to stop the production of ballistic missiles. And let me elaborate on that.

You know, it's not only the nuclear weapons. We all know about the UN enrichment and about that they're getting very close to put a bomb together. But look at what they're doing with the ballistic missiles. They want to, they want it to be at the same level of the US and Russia in terms of the quantity and the technology of the ballistic missiles. We couldn't allow it to happen. We got intel about their intentions to create another attack against Israel. You know, we all remember what happened on October 7th. But this time they wanted to use

How sure are you right now?

Well, we will have to wait and see the result of the attack of last night. It was a major attack. More than 200 aircraft participated in the attack. Many targets, many senior military officials were eliminated.

last night, and we will continue until we know that Iran is in the point that they cannot continue with their efforts. Including the IRGC general commander, is there an intent for regime change in Iran from Israel?

Well, that's not our goal. We are concerned about the threats to Israel. For the Iranian people, I wish they would have a different regime. We saw what happened in Iran. The people are suffering there. They have no heat in the winter, no AC in the summer. They are suffering there. But our goal is to eliminate the capabilities of Iran so they will not be able to threaten us. And look at the map.

We have no border with Iran. It takes us hours to fly there in order to attack those facilities, but still they spend billions of dollars to create threats against Israel. This nuclear enrichment is deep into the mountains. How long will that victory actually take? And it's called Rising Lion. Why is that?

Well, you know, every time we pick a name when we have a military operation, sometimes the computer is doing it for us, so there is no real meaning for the word of the operation. But I would say that IAEA published recently that Iran has enough uranium to create not only one bomb, multiple bombs.

So it was a matter of days to put it together. We decided not to wait, not to take that risk. We believed the threat of the Iranian. When they said that they were going to use those ballistic missiles to destroy Israel, we took it very seriously. How much did the Israeli government brief the U.S. government?

So we talked with the U.S., but this decision was decided in Jerusalem. And we took that decision independently, not for the first time. In the '80s, I want to remind you, we attacked the nuclear reactor in Iraq. We took the decision by ourselves when we attacked the reactor in Syria. I think it will serve the U.S. and other Western democracies, but it was a decision that was made in Israel.

Do you think the United States will come to not just the Israeli defense, but potentially if you're needing help with more attacks, if this continues for days and weeks? Well, since the day that it was established, we never asked the U.S. to fight for us. We know how to fight, and we know how to defeat our enemies. You know, we have heard threats that the Iranians are threatening the U.S. targets, they are threatening the allies of the U.S. in the Gulf. And you're closing your embassy, right?

So we take precautions in different places around the world. We are aware of the threats, but we will continue. Also in Israel, we have to be honest. In Israel today, we are getting ready for serious attacks coming from Iran. It will be very intense in Israel in the next few days. We are preparing the population. And this operation, it's not only about the bravery of the pilots.

It's about the population in Israel. They will have to follow the guidelines in order to avoid casualties. Ambassador, as you know, the United States has distanced themselves from this in the last 24 hours and said they weren't part of the attack. What's not clear to us is whether they assisted in the defense of Israel. Did they?

Well, you know, we have capabilities and we are... Did they assist you when they sent over drones from Iran to Israel? Did you receive any help from partners outside of Israel? Well, as far as I know, we were able to deal with the drones by ourselves.

But we have to realize the threat is not only against Israel. As I said earlier, Iran is threatening the allies of the U.S. in the Gulf. So we have the capabilities. I'm not sure they have the same capabilities. Are you worried about an asymmetrical response from Iran?

Well, we took into consideration that there will be retaliation. Will it be proportional? Well, they know that we have capabilities as well. So they will have to think twice before they attack us and what they are doing. And I would say that today we can reach every target in Iran. We have the control in terms of our pilot. Do you have intent to reach every target?

Well, you know, we have the capability. We focus on the goal I mentioned earlier, the ballistic missile infrastructure and the nuclear facilities. How long will that take if you were to reach every target?

Well, it's not going to be a short operation. So is it weeks or months? No, I wouldn't say months, but it can take days or weeks. How lonely is Israel at the United Nations at the moment? Well, I will let you know in a few minutes when I go there, Jonathan, but it's going to be tough for us. Iran already called for the Security Council to meet. Probably it will happen this afternoon.

But, you know, I will tell my colleague at the UN, where were you in the last 10 years when Iran threatened Israel? Where were you when they sent ballistic missiles? Where were you when they actually acquired the nuclear capabilities? So, you know, wars will not stop Iran. Israel will. The international response, Saudi Arabia calling it heinous, the NATO secretary general calling for de-escalation, the UN secretary general calling for maximum restraint.

Do you think there is a diplomatic route when it comes to dealing with this regime?

Well, I think that they, you know, already have a diplomatic act. And the time for that will come. But we saw that the diplomacy didn't convince Iran to change course. You know, for decades they negotiated, they played the game, they lied. We found, we had the intel, that they are developing nuclear capabilities for military usage. There's some analysis, though, that under the JCPOA they were restrained, they were capped.

they are not capped now when it comes to enrichment. Well, you know, with and without the JCPOA, they were continuing. And what we revealed only recently, that, you know, alongside the reactors and the plan that was supervised by the international community, they developed a military capability that they were hiding it from the international community. So once we realized that they are going to that direction, we decided to stop that.

Ambassador, we appreciate your time this morning. Thanks for making time for us. Thank you very much. I'm sure you're going to have an exceptionally busy day ahead of you. So thank you, sir. The Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danone there on the latest attacks on Iran. Every business starts with an idea. How can you go from daydreamer to industry leader? Amazon Business accelerates your journey.

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