The following is the full transcript of Ambassador Reuven Azar’s interview on ANI Podcast with Smita Prakash episode titled “Israel Envoy to India gives latest info on Operation Rising Lion, WW3 & more”, premiered June 13, 2025.
Interview starts here:
INTERVIEWER: Namaste. Jai Hind. You’re watching or listening to another edition of the ANI podcast with Smita Prakash. This episode is being filmed on 13 June, 2025, a day after the deadly Air India plane crash that killed 241 of the 242 on board and some casualties even on the ground. Our deepest condolences to the families who are coping with the loss of their loved ones.
While our TV screens are bringing home the devastation of the crash, the backstories of the victims, another event took place last night. Israel launched deadly strikes on Iran. This was the first that the world heard along with the visuals of the explosions in Tehran. The tweet said “IDF has launched a preemptive, precise combined offensive to strike Iran’s nuclear program. Dozens of IAF, that is the Israel Air Force jets, completed the first stage that included strikes on dozens of military targets, including nuclear targets in different areas of Iran.
Today, Iran is closer than ever to obtaining a nuclear weapon. Weapons of mass destruction in the hands of the Iranian regime are an existential threat to the State of Israel and to the wider world. The State of Israel has no choice but to fulfill the obligation to act in defense of its citizens and will continue to do so everywhere it is required to do so, as we have done in the past.”
To explain the situation better to us, we have in the studio Israel’s Ambassador to India, Reuven Azar. He served in a paratroopers brigade of the IDF. He was Deputy Chief of Mission for the Embassy of Israel in Washington D.C. He served as Deputy Adviser for National Security and Foreign Policy with the National Security Council and a foreign policy advisor to the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Ambassador Azar, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. I just introduced the show and I said that we’re recording this on the 13th, a day after the Air India crash and overnight strikes by Israel on Iran. So these are stressful times and I appreciate, deeply appreciate Ishaan and I deeply appreciate that you’ve taken time out and you’ve come on the podcast today. So I’ll hand the floor over to you so that you can tell us about the strikes.
Israel’s Response to the Air India Crash and the Iranian Threat
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Thank you Smita. Thank you Ishaan. First of all, I would like to extend my condolences and condolences of the Israeli people. All our leaders have been attentive to this terrible disaster with the airplane that caused so many loss of lives. So we wish speedy recovery for those who survived. Not many have survived those who survived and we stand with the Indian people at this difficult time.
INTERVIEWER: Thank you.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Now we took action. Well, it’s an existential threat to the people of Israel. To the people of Israel. To Israel. To the existence of Israel. Because the leaders of Iran have not only sworn to destroy the state of Israel time and again, including this month, by the leader himself, but also have developed various ways of making sure that this happens.
The first and most imminent threat that we are acting against now is the threat of a nuclear armed Iran. And they have been doing two things in the context of the nuclear military threat. They have been doing experiments to create a nuclear warhead. As you know, probably the audience heard that Iran has been having an illicit military nuclear program for many years and they have been accumulating enriched uranium in the last few months. They actually have speeded up the pace of enriched uranium and now they have enriched uranium for nine nuclear bombs.
But what actually triggered this in the more immediate context is the fact that there was a clandestine group that has been working on actually assembling the nuclear weapon on a ballistic missile. Okay? So that would create a situation in which Israel could be attacked by nuclear ballistic missiles, thousands of them. And we are a state just the size, half the size of Haryana or the size of Mizoram. Okay? This for us is something that we cannot bear.
We have seen also that IAEA has determined that Iran actually has breached the Safeguards Agreement, has been conducting illicit and undeclared nuclear activity outside of the scope of what they have been agreeing to abide under the umbrella of the Non Proliferation Treaty. So this was the first thing that we did.
The second threat that we are working against is the threat of ballistic missiles. Because, as you know, Israel is pretty small. The Iranians have attacked us with a barrage of 300 ballistic missiles in April this year, in October last year.
Current Threats and Iranian Retaliation
INTERVIEWER: I think even as we are recording this, there are unconfirmed reports that missile strike is imminent on Israel.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: There’s actually a confirmed report that more than 100 drones have been launched from Iranian territory towards Israel. This will take about seven hours to get into Israel. Probably it will be combined with a strike of ballistic missiles like they did last April or even more.
So we are in a situation that not only Iran has accumulated thousands of ballistic missiles, but it had a program, according to intelligence we gathered, it was corroborated by our allies, to build 10,000 ballistic missiles in the next three years and 20,000 ballistic missiles in the next six years of any country, not only Israel, but any country in the region and actually in the world would be under a threat of a radical regime that is equipped with thousands of ballistic missiles carrying one ton payload each that could even actually be armed with a nuclear weapon.
We are defending ourselves.
Operation Rising Lion Details
INTERVIEWER: So Operation Rising Lion. So this podcast. Let’s restricted that conversation because we have limited time with you.
Ambassador, quick clarification on your opening statement. So the immediate intelligence you’re saying is that Israel found out that a clandestine unit of the Iranian IRGC, or whichever the equivalent is over there that handles with tactical nuclear weapons, they were in the process of pairing a nuclear warhead with a ballistic missile.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Which then that is something that happened overnight that you received this intelligence?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: No, this has been happening in the last few months. And we got to the conclusion that we cannot wait anymore and we have to prepare the grounds. Look, the Iranians have been stalling for time for many years, okay? They’ve been conducting negotiations with the international community, and actually they have been connecting, as you know, they have been conducting negotiations with the United States in the last few months. And while doing that, they were arming a nuclear weapon.
So we got to the conclusion this is an Israeli operation, but we are fully coordinated with the United States. And the United States knows this information and therefore took precautions, as you probably saw, of taking their personnel out of bases around the Middle East.
INTERVIEWER: And so the information, obviously this is an active event. Information is coming by the minute of the Israeli strikes over here. What nuclear installations or ballistic missile installations has Israel targeted? We have information about. Recently the IDF just posted about basically leadership decapitation of their IRGC.
This is the one that we have. We can now confirm that the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, commander of the IRGC, and the commander of Iran’s Emergency Command were all eliminated in the Israeli strikes across Iran by more than 200 fighter jets. These are three ruthless mass murderers with international blood on their hands. The world is a better place without them. This was at 10:35 Indian Standard Time today, and we are recording this at about 11am.
Targeting Iranian Leadership
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Confirmation that we have managed to strike the elite command and control of the Iranian army and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. These are the people that are in charge of this aggressive campaign to eliminate the State of Israel. And therefore they had to pay the initial price. This is, of course, also intended in order to disturb their capability to continue attacking us.
As we said before, there’s already a barrage of drones coming on the way to Israel. Probably this is a beginning. It’s going to continue. But we are determined. We have prepared ourselves for their retaliation.
INTERVIEWER: What about the nuclear sites? Have there been attacks over there? I know that the Prime Minister in his statement said that Netanyahu was the one enrichment site that was targeted. Were there others?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, there are many sites in Iran that are connected to the nuclear program. At this point, we are not disclosing exactly what we are doing, but we are, as I said, we are determined to take out this danger because an imminent danger on our existence.
INTERVIEWER: So when you say that, you are specifically saying that these commanders have been taken down, which means that either their residential quarters were hit, so you know exactly that these guys are down, or else there were people already inside Iran who conducted these targeted, like targeted strikes, assassinations, or was there just a bombing? What happened?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, Smita, as you know, this is a threat that has been building up for many years. And therefore, Israel has taken a lot of precaution preparing not only our home front, but also gathering intelligence regarding these criminals. Okay, so we had very good intelligence regarding different locations of their command and control. And we took the necessary measures in order to try to create a situation in which this threat is neutralized in an optimal way, of course, without causing unnecessary casualty.
Scale of the Operation
INTERVIEWER: Ambassador, is it air assault as well as ground assault? At this stage, it’s the first round of strikes which have happened till 11am in the morning.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, the only thing I can confirm right now is our Air Force, 200 jet fighters from our air force participated in this attack.
INTERVIEWER: But there will be more strikes.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, you know, we cannot predict what will happen in the future. We hope that the Iranians get the message. You know, they haven’t been getting the message. They think that they can continue this campaign to destroy us. I think that they are going to be proven dead wrong. And if they continue retaliating, probably, you know, you are going to see a continuation of our strikes.
US Involvement and Regional Implications
INTERVIEWER: This imminent warhead pairing of Iran, was this intelligence shared with your United States counterparts?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Were they involved in this operation in any way?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: No.
INTERVIEWER: Even though there have been denials. But President Trump was told about it.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: And don’t you think that with this attack now, American bases in the region are fair game for Iran?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, it’s completely up to the Iranians. I think that if they continue their aggression, they would bear results. At this point in time, Israel has taken precise action to defend itself. And if the Iranians decide to escalate, they will have to deal with the consequences.
INTERVIEWER: So this tweet by a Fox News reporter, he says President Trump said that Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb and we are hoping to get back to the negotiating table. We will see. There are several people in leadership that will not be coming back. Clearly what you said then, it says President Trump has spoken with PM Netanyahu several times in recent days. The Trump administration reached out to at least one key Middle Eastern ally to acknowledge that the strike was going to happen. So, which means, like you said, that they were aware of it. But he says that the President is looking to see if there is a retaliation. CENTCOM is on high alert. The US will defend Aurora. And then it says that he hopes that Iran gets to the negotiating table. The US has replenished the iron Drone missiles in recent weeks according to administration officials. Now this is Fox says. Yeah, this tweet was by Fox News defense reporter and she’s essentially quoting. She’s quoting what Brett Baer, one of their hosts.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: I want to give a context to your audience. Look, following the Abraham Accords, Israel has actually intensified our coordination with the American forces, with the command of CENTCOM and we are monitoring the skies of the Middle East on a day to day basis in order to deal with threats. We are highly coordinated with them and with other partners in the region in order to defend the skies of the Middle East.
In addition to that, of course, as a result of our action, there is a situation of alert and people are taking precautions because they don’t know how Iran is going to retaliate. But we are prepared for any scenario. Israel is prepared and I’m sure that our allies are prepared as well.
INTERVIEWER: So, Ambassador, to get it clear, the strike on Iran, America had no role to play. But the defense of Israel and the Middle East, if there is an attack by Iran, the US will play a role.
Israel’s Response to Iran’s Nuclear Threat
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, we’ll have to wait and see at this point. We’ve seen in the past that when Iran attacked Israel in a massive way, we’ve seen cooperation between the air defenses of the players in the region. This might occur in this time as well.
INTERVIEWER: But when missiles are being provided to the and replenishment as I said, for the Iron Dome, isn’t that cooperating militarily?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: We have very good cooperation with the United States. We, as you probably know, are producing Iron Dome in Israel, but we are also producing Iron Dome on US soil. And replenishing is something that usually allies do.
INTERVIEWER: With this sort of preemptive strike by Israel, have doors for any negotiation with Iran shut completely?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, I don’t know. I think it depends on the Iranians. As you saw and you read, the President of the United States is ready to continue negotiations. What we want to achieve is a situation in which Iran no longer has the capability to create a nuclear weapon. That means that they have to have zero enrichment in their country and that their nuclear infrastructures that could lead them to a nuclear weapon are removed from Iran. So as long as Iran doesn’t agree to do that, this threat is going to continue existing and therefore we will be obliged to act upon it.
INTERVIEWER: Do you know, Ambassador, do you not think that the sort of upcoming talks in Oman that were scheduled between Steve Witkoff and Iran, that’s pretty much been scuttled completely with this?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, it depends. As I said, if Iran complies with the demand of the international community and renounces the enrichment cycle. You know, what Iran did is actually it abused the assistance it got from the IAEA and it cheated the agreement that it was part of. So when a country cheats, they don’t longer deserve the right to enrich.
And this is what we have been arguing now in the report that was released a few weeks back and actually a resolution that was adopted only yesterday that was supported by the majority of the international community, it was determined that Iran has breached the safeguard agreement. It means that they cannot any longer enjoy from the rights that they have as part of that agreement. And that means that they had to renounce the nuclear enrichment cycle. And that means that if they agree to that, there is indeed room for negotiation.
INTERVIEWER: How do you respond to the Iranian claim that the IAEA has been completely politicized and that this resolution that was passed against Iran was essentially the writing was on the wall even before the resolution was taken?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, that’s nonsense because they were caught red handed. So they know that they cheated and the IAEA exposed it.
The Threshold for Israel’s Strike
INTERVIEWER: What was the threshold, Ambassador, that Iran crossed that led to this strike? What was the threshold and when was that crossed for this strike? Is it a preemptive strike? Is it something or is it a provocative strike? How would you term this?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, first of all, the Iranians have accelerated their activity in the context of assembling a warhead, a nuclear weapon, okay, with the enriched uranium that they had and with the ballistic missiles they had developed.
Now, of course, this is preemptive. You know, less than 100 years ago, the world decided not to preempt Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. And the result was the worst war in the history of humankind in which 60 million people died, including 6 million of our people, a third of our people. We are not going to stay put when a radical Islamist regime declares that wants to annihilate us and develops the weapons to execute the plan. We’re not going to stand idle by, we are going to act and this is what we’re doing now.
INTERVIEWER: And when did that, what was the intelligence, if you can share that, when did you get to know that the pairing of the nuclear device has happened and that is where you Iran cross the limit?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, you know, we know that it has been happening in the last few months. You know, I cannot mention a day, but once we’ve been able to corroborate that, then we had no choice but to prepare for action in concert, in coordination with our partners.
INTERVIEWER: So the only reason why we are asking this is probably the third time we ask you about the nuclear pairing because the, you know, the apprehension we’ve seen what happened with the Iraq war, the whole yellow cake theory, etc. I know that the Prime Minister has come on record and said nine nuclear bombs were being readied.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Look, this is completely different because the IAEA actually has confirmed and actually there are IAEA staff in Iran that have been monitoring this and actually Iran didn’t deny it. So the fact that they have accumulated this fissile material is something that is common knowledge, not only intelligence wise, but also the Iranians have acknowledged that. So this is a completely different situation from the situation you had in Iraq.
Potential for Regional Conflict
INTERVIEWER: So is this going to accelerate or is this going to spread into a full blown Middle East conflict? Who are Iran’s supporters that you think are going to aid Iran if Iran strikes? And I think it’s quite obvious that Iran is going to try and strike you.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, we might see a situation in which some of the proxies of Iran take action. We have prepared ourselves to that as well. But it’s very clear that Iran is retaliating and we are going to have to retaliate ourselves. Now if Iran decides to attack other players in the region, other countries, then they will have to bear the consequences because we cannot predict, you know, I don’t want to speculate, but at the end of the day, they will have to take the risk. If they decide to do that, I think it would be detrimental to their interest, but that’s their business.
INTERVIEWER: When you say proxies, which countries do you mean?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, as you know, we’ve been having a seventh front war. Iran has been trying to create a ring of fire around Israel. It equipped Hezbollah with missiles, with factories of missiles, with technology, with training, with finance. It has done the same with militias in Syria that now have been defeated by the Giuliani regime. They have been doing that in Iraq with the Shiite militias there that have been threatening the American forces.
They have been doing that with Houthis in Yemen. And they have actually exported factories of production of missiles underground in the Houthi areas. In Yemen, they have been supplying Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, in Judea and Samaria, in the West Bank. So in all these fronts, Israel has been attacked and we’ve been dealing with that.
So fortunately, we’ve been able to stabilize the situation in Lebanon. And finally, Lebanon has a path forward with a new government and Hezbollah now is more restrained. We have a change in the situation in Syria. I think this is a great prospect for the Middle East because you have two Arab countries that were actually controlled by Iran that now are back in the Arab world. Okay. We still have a substantive challenge.
Operation Rising Lion and Regional Cooperation
INTERVIEWER: Ambassador for this operation Rising Lion. Is there a kind of a coalition or are you in touch with other Arab countries? Is this a coalition against Iran at work right now with military attacks on Iran as well as coercive diplomatic effect impact on Iran?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, Israel is taking action by itself to defend itself. At the same time, what is happening is that following the Abraham Accords, we have a situation in which we have much higher coordination with countries in the region in monitoring the skies of the Middle East and defending ourselves against threats coming from Iran and its proxies.
And that’s the reason why we’ve been able to cope so successfully with the biggest barrage of ballistic missiles fired ever in the history of the world that happened back in April. So the help and the assistance of our partners is important. And this is. Yes, you can say it’s a coalition. It’s not an official coalition. Israel is not fighting together with the coalition. At this point, Israel is acting alone to defend itself against an existential threat.
Risk of Wider Conflict
INTERVIEWER: I just want to expand what my editor talked about. Possibility of a wider conflagration in the region. You see one of the people that the IDF has targeted is Bagheri, the chief of staff. Now a couple of years ago he was. The US has also alleged that he was part of a unit in Crimea that was giving assistance to the Russians in launching drone strikes against Ukraine. Now I know that Russia and China also abstained from the IAEA sort of the resolution against Iran. Are we now closer to World War Three with this action? That’s my question.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, again, you know, I don’t want to speculate. I think that we are taking a limited action in order to defend ourselves. It’s completely up to other countries to decide whether they want to get involved. I don’t think that any of them have insinuated at this point that they want to be part of this military conflict. So I think I wouldn’t go that far.
INTERVIEWER: Steve Witkoff, I think had written an article in Axios, I think a day ago or so where he said that Israel must be prepared for a mass casualty event because Iran may escalate as well and throw everything at you. Now are you ready for a situation like that? Ambassador, how do you defend. You are saying that it’s a preemptive strike, it’s a defensive strike that you have written, but you have said. But then there’s a perception that Israel is the aggressor. How do you deal with that narrative?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: A perception by whom?
INTERVIEWER: So in the social media sphere, in a large part of Israelis in America, they write about in a large part of the Muslim world as well.
Israel’s Justification and Regional Support
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, I haven’t seen, you know, I’ve seen the responses following what happened tonight. I think that many countries are responding in a very responsible way. Of course they’re in a situation of alarm and concern, but they haven’t delegitimized our right for self defense.
I think the fact that we have shared intelligence both with the IAEA and with other Western powers and other friends, people understand the ferocity and the radicalism coming from Iran. The fact that they have been doing all these activities to destroy us and haven’t seen condemnation so far.
We are of course in touch with the Indian government as well and we are coordinating briefs to our colleagues in order to present them with both the information we have and the action that we’ve taken. I think that Israel has been acting very responsibly because we have been postponing this military action for a very long time. Iran has been given many, many chances to retract from this policy. They have been sanctioned they have been negotiating with. We have seen many, many attempts by different countries in the world to try to divert Iran from this line of action.
And the fact that we have reached this point is because it’s an imminent moment that we couldn’t actually continue living with and therefore we took action. I think people appreciate the degree of our restraint and I can tell you that many countries in the Arab world feel as threatened in Israel as Israel if no more. Because you know what the Iranians are doing is very clear for many countries. Iran wants to take Jerusalem, but it’s only a stop on the way to Mecca and Medina. This is what they want to do. They want to control the Islamic world and they have been attacking other countries in the past.
Look what happened more than four years ago in Saudi Arabia when they attacked directly the oil production of Saudi Arabia. So I think that Israel is actually supported and people, even if they don’t support, they understand why we are taking this action.
INTERVIEWER: Were the Saudis taken into confidence before this strike?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: I’m not aware of that.
India-Israel Relations
INTERVIEWER: Ambassador, you just mentioned India. What would you expect from India? We are just about six weeks or seven weeks since operation Sindur where India launched strikes on Pakistan and a number of people say that while we got a lot of support from international community who said that India has the right to defend itself, at the same time they were not openly supportive of continued military action on Pakistan by India. So how do you see the two things?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, first of all, as much as we are not part of the conflict between India and Pakistan, India is not a part of the conflict between Iran and Israel. And therefore it is very natural that we will not be involved directly in conflicts that we are not involved in.
On the other hand, I think that we support the right of self defense of each other and we’ve been working together to deal with common threats when it comes to the building of capabilities. So we consider ourselves close friends and allies, strategic partners. And we want to be in a situation that this cooperation continues. I’m sure it will continue because it benefits both countries. There’s a relationship of trust and this will only deepen because the challenges against us are only amounting.
Iran’s Nuclear Threat and Israel’s Response
INTERVIEWER: Ambassador, if you could just war game a bit because I want to step back for a second. What is the logical conclusion to this? You’ve conducted these strikes, you’ve probably crippled or decapitated their command and control for nuclear weapons. But do you see Iran not coming up with more? Don’t you think that will keep on moving forward? Do you think they’ll put a pause or stop completely to their nuclear program?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: We are prepared for any scenario. I think that Iran has the option to stop. Iran might continue. We have prepared ourselves for this continuation. And of course, the entire public in Israel is now in the situation of alert. They have been instructed to stay close to shelters. We don’t have schools in Israel today. So, yes, we are in a situation of alert. We will continue preparing our population for any retaliation. And we will, of course, keep the freedom of action that is necessary to defend ourselves against the power that wants to destroy us.
INTERVIEWER: Will Israel accept Iran’s civil nuclear program where they enriched uranium just for power purposes?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, we haven’t at any time mentioned that Iran cannot have nuclear power plants for electricity. What we didn’t want is that Iran possesses the capability to enrich uranium by itself, because that would be an element in the composition of a nuclear arsenal.
You have to understand there are three components needed to launch a nuclear attack. You need the missile, which is the vehicle. You need the fissile material. That is the stuff that you need in order to put a bomb, and you need a nuclear warhead. So if they have developed the plans and we already exposed that with the nuclear information that we have seized…
INTERVIEWER: Pairing the warhead with the missile, that since…
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Since 2003, Iran has been conducting activities to create a nuclear warhead. So if they already have the ballistic missiles and they have the fissile material and they are capable of producing fissile material, then they would have the potential to create a huge nuclear arsenal. And therefore that fissile material has to be removed from Iran. And the only material that can be used is that that is being imported in order to create electricity. We haven’t said that’s not possible.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, so you had supportive of Trump’s plan where he said that they will provide Iran with sort of the nuclear fuel necessary for civilian purposes. If that is the contours of moving forward.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Yes.
Iran’s Threats Against Israel
INTERVIEWER: A lot of the military strategies also about narrative building. The IDF has just put out a video which says that the Iranian regime wants to destroy the state of Israel and is not hiding. There’s a video that they put out and it says, “We plan. The Iranians are read. We plan to break up the United States, Israel and their partners.” This was on 19th February 2019. The commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards had said, “We plan to cleanse the world from their filthiness, from their existence.” Part of the narrative of your country is also to prove to the world that we had this proof.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: And the video is only part of our narrative. It’s their narrative. They are saying publicly that they want to annihilate the state of Israel, that they are going to remove the cancerous tumor. The Supreme Leader of Iran has said it a few days back.
So they have been declaring they want to destroy us. They have been preparing to destroy us in all the ways that I mentioned. The nuclear weapons, the ballistic missiles, the proxies, everything. They have been investing tens of billions of dollars in that on the account of the prosperity of their own people.
Okay, so this is very serious. People understand that. I think it is very clear and of course that we have to mention that narrative because then people can understand why we took this action. That bears, of course, a lot of risk for ourselves.
Current Situation and Operation Timeline
INTERVIEWER: All the flights are now moving away. They have returned which were flying over this region. They have all returned back to their destinations. How safe are the skies today? And when do you think that the skies will be safe for commercial aircraft?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, it’s too soon to say indeed a fact that right now civilian aircraft not only in Israel, but around the entire area of the Levant, Iraq and Iran is now closed. And we don’t know yet when this will be opened. It depends on the continuation of the hostilities.
INTERVIEWER: Flight to Tel Aviv has also returned.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: To Ben Gurion, is closed right now for civilian flights.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, so you do expect this to… Is there a time frame? I’m not asking you when, but there is a time frame when you think that this operation is not going to be a long lasting operation.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: I don’t know. I think that there is potential for prolongation if the Iranians continue retaliating.
INTERVIEWER: Till they come to the negotiating table. Or is it that you want to level the ground there?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: There’s not such thing as leveling the ground. We are acting militarily in order to neutralize military threats, not to level the ground of any country, but military threats.
INTERVIEWER: In the sense of installations or people or their ability to hit back in any manner.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, we are degrading their capability to hit back and we will continue doing so as long as Iran continues to retain.
INTERVIEWER: The reason why she’s asking this is also because these are residential areas where we saw the attacks happen. So there are civilian casualties as well that are probably not linked to any of this. So how precision is precision over here?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, it’s quite precise. If you could see the pictures, you would see that there were very, very specific flats that were hit in buildings and there weren’t entire buildings that were brought down. So it means that the action is very precise.
INTERVIEWER: So those were brought down by missiles like your 2000 kilometers by air force. Okay, so not by, not by somebody, a gunman who went out there and blew up. You cannot confirm?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: I can confirm that our Air Force has been active there, yes.
Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Ambassador, how do you respond to the sort of Iranian allegation that they have no option but to initiate medium and get a nuclear bomb? Because all the promises that were made to them, whether the Iran nuclear deal or the sort of European, various European deals as well they have for trade sanctions, etc. They were routinely sort of broken by Western powers. And so therefore this nuclear weapon is a sort of deterrence for them. How do you respond to that allegation? They have to do it.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: They have no option? Well, first of all, they started this nuclear program years before all what you’re saying has been developing. So we already know that even before the American invasion to Iraq, they had a very active nuclear program which they freezed when America, when the United States invaded Iraq, sorry.
And we have seen multiple, in multiple occasions their clandestine activities, regardless of any threat. So this is completely baseless. It doesn’t have any basis. And we know that Iran has a declared policy of humiliating the state of Israel and building the weapons to achieve that.
They want regional hegemony. They have been taking over following the so called Arab Spring in 2011, they’ve been taking over four Arab capitals. That wasn’t because they feel threatened from Europe or the United States. They have an aggressive radical ideology of hegemony, of military occupation, of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, of creation of weapons of mass destruction.
And therefore, regardless of any differences between countries at any given point in time, like the JCPOA, this is just an excuse. At the end of the day, they are continuing with their quest. And after many years we’ve been trying to stall it and to prevent conflict, they left us with no choice.
Military Targets and Domestic Support
INTERVIEWER: So it’s not just nuclear facilities which are being targeted, it’s military targets as well. Right?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Yeah, we said that we are also hitting command and control and also the ballistic missile program because as I said, the Iranians have thousands of ballistic missiles. They are planning to build a huge arsenal of 10,000 ballistic missiles in the next three years and then 20,000 the next six years.
So that would constitute an existential threat for Israel because imagine, you know, take a country that is as small as Mizoram or half of Haryana that is being hit by thousands of ballistic missiles. That bear one ton of TNT each, even without a nuclear weapon. That is devastating. And therefore we had to deal with that as well.
INTERVIEWER: Back in Israel. Is there complete support for this? Because domestic implications, you are a democracy, so like we are a democracy. So here too the people have to be brought on board. All political parties have to be brought on board. Is there complete support for Operation Rising Lion?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. And from your Western allies?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, I think that we have a lot of understanding. As I said, I haven’t seen so far any announcements that are condemning us. We have been talking with some of our partners. They know we have shared the intelligence. So they know about it because we…
INTERVIEWER: Had seen a few days ago some countries like Canada, United Kingdom and all had sanctioned some Israeli politicians. But I guess that’s different. That’s for the Hamas related war.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Yes. And that is, I think completely outrageous. Countries don’t do such things to fellow democracies. I think that judging and sanctioning leaders just by statements that they do in a specific context is not something that is acceptable. And we are very disappointed. We are measuring our response to that. But today we are concentrating in this because really it’s one of the most significant decisions we had to make and it’s never easy to do.
Pakistan’s Role and International Response
INTERVIEWER: I’m going to cut into Naveen, who’s sitting in the control room. He has a question for you. Ambassador, please.
INTERVIEWER: Ambassador, I have a question for you. Abdul Kadir Khan, father of Pakistan nuclear program has played a pivotal role in Iranian nuclear program. So Pakistan has played a decisive role in nuclear program of Iran. So how Pakistan is not an equal threat and only Iran is a threat. And do you think that India should also be taking a line which Israel is doing right now?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, there have been countries assisting Iran in their nuclear program, the ballistic missile program, not only the country that you mentioned, but also North Korea and others. Israel is acting against an actor that has stated publicly time and again that wants to annihilate us and has acted, taken action in order to attack us through their proxies, that is Iran. That’s why we are acting against Iran and not against other countries.
INTERVIEWER: So just leapfrogging from my colleague Naveen’s question over here. So you understand sometimes the apprehension that India may have with the IAEA because it’s under their watch that Pakistan exchanged nuclear material for ballistic missile technology from North Korea and this all happened during that time. And Pakistan is a country which was this sort of university for terrorists. So essentially the same argument that you… Yeah, the same argument that you have that. You don’t want bad actors to get their hands on nuclear material. That’s an existential threat for India as well.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Well, that’s a great question. Look, we have a problem with the success or lack of success of the international community in dealing with rogue states. When you want to generate world order and you put forward a series of agreements with the intention of creating code of conduct. And then there are countries that are abusing that like Iraq that you know, cheated and tried to create a nuclear arsenal, like Syria under Assad that cheated and worked to create a nuclear weapon like Libya under Qaddafi that did that.
So we have a challenge as an international community to deal with rogue states and we have to be more efficient in finding ways of dealing with that because if we fail, then we get to situations like we have today.
INTERVIEWER: Yeah. The MEA Ministry of External affairs of India has issued a statement even as we are recording this in which it says it stands ready to extend all possible support and ask for de-escalation. I guess these are standard things which countries put out trying to extend support but distance themselves from any kind of military action. I’m guessing. Is that how…
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Look, I can understand the quest for many countries in the world to promote peace and to try to avoid escalation. I think it’s very regrettable that we have gotten to this point. People are concerned, we can understand that. But I think that they also understand us and our right for self defense. And therefore, as I said, I haven’t seen condemnations from…
INTERVIEWER: So last question because I believe you have to leave. The last question. If Iran has cross that nuclear threshold, do we expect your country to test an atomic device in the coming few days?
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Israel will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East.
INTERVIEWER: Right. Thank you so much sir.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: We appreciate the support of the Indian people. You have been great friends of ours and we appreciate that very much. Again, I want to extend my condolences for the terrible accident that happened yesterday and I wish only the best for Indian friends.
INTERVIEWER: Thank you so much.
AMBASSADOR AZAR: Thank you.
INTERVIEWER: Again, a reminder, this episode has been filmed on 13th June 2025. Thank you for watching or listening to this edition of the ANI podcast with Smita Prakash. Do like or subscribe on whichever channel you have seen this or heard this. Namaste Jai Hind.
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