Danny Danon (Israel) on Iran - Security Council Media Stakeout

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Israel's Ambassador to the un, Danny Danone, is going to deliver a brief statement ahead of this afternoon's Security Council session. He'll take your questions afterwards. Please remember to state your name and outlet if you are asked to ask a question. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Just weeks ago, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Arachi, was asked directly whether Iran has missiles with a range beyond 2000km. He looked the world in the eye and said, and I quote him directly, we don't have those. We have intentionally kept the range of our missiles below 2000km. So we don't have that capability.

And we don't want to do that because we don't have any hostility against the United States people or Europeans whatsoever. That is what he told the world. That was not a misstatement. It was a blatant lie. Because over the weekend, the Iranian regime launched missiles nearly 4,000km to Odiego Garcia, a remote island in the Indian Ocean that hosts a major joint US UK military base.

You can look at the map. You can see the range of the Iranian ballistic missiles today. They can reach Paris. It reaches London, Athens, Copenhagen, Riga. It reaches deep into Europe, 4,000 km, double the range they claimed.

And if it has doubled once, it can double again from 4,000 to 8,000 kilometers. That would make it capable of striking the heart of the us. This is not just another attack. It is proof. It showed the regime that has developed a far longer range capabilities than many were willing to admit.

And it shows something even more dangerous, a leadership that is no longer interested in hiding it. So let me be clear about it. This is not a speculation. Those are facts. This is a real threat.

Imagine what they could do if they had nuclear ballistic missiles. And yet so many here in the Council try to play the game like it's not part of their issue or concerns. We have been saying it for years. Iran is not a regional problem. It is not our problem.

It is a global one.

So I must ask my European colleagues today, and I will ask them later on in the Council, where are you? What are you doing about that? What are you doing about it today, not tomorrow? Do not treat it as a distant conflict. You can ask the Gulf states.

They did not think that they were next, but we all know what happened in the last three weeks. So I say to the leaders of the Western world, where are you? Where is the moral clarity? Where is the urgency? Where is your leadership?

Israel is already in the arena. This is your moment to step up, to recognize the common enemy. To act now before it's too late for your people to act with unity, with resolve and clarity. Thank you. Thank you.

Ambassador, it's Pamela Falk from U.S. news World Report. Can you tell me what the latest is on the peace plan for Gaza? Since Hamas was, we understand, given a written proposal to start phase two, including disarming, have they responded? What is the Latest on that?

First, we support the Board of Peace, we support the 20 points pled of President Trump and we collaborate with the initiative.

Hamas must be disarmed before anything else. There are a lot of ideas, good ideas about rebuilding Gaza, humanitarian projects, we support them. But nothing can start before disarmament of Hamas. And I hope that Hamas will understand it. They should look at what happened in other parts of Gaza and learn the lesson from that.

And has the leadership responded in any way?

I'm not aware of that.

Thank you very much, Mr. Ambassador. Edith Lederer from the Associated Press.

There are reports of possible talks in Pakistan later this week between Iran and the United States. Does Israel support any prospect of these talks and will Israel participate in such talks?

First, I'm not familiar with our participation in such talks. It's important to note that we continue with the operation as we speak Israel and the U.S. we continue to target military targets in Iran and we will continue to do that. Now when you speak about negotiations, we know that at the end of any operation or conflict you have to go to diplomacy and we will make sure that the outcome will be that Taiwan will not have the nuclear capability, will not have the ballistic missiles capabilities, and that we will achieve the goals that we put forward only a month ago.

How far do you think Israel and the United States are from achieving those goals?

I think we accomplished a lot. I'm not sure that the Iranians realize that, but we accomplished a lot. We have weakened the regime, but we have to make sure that we don't create a condition for them to go back for world war. We want to create a different reality on the ground.

Ambassador Adlama, Sudan National Regarding Lebanon, yesterday the your finance minister called for the effective annexation of southern Lebanon. Is this something that the Israeli government supports or do you reject this position?

I don't think we have a position of annexation in Lebanon. I would say more than that. We don't have an interest to be in Lebanon today.

We have very limited forces next to the border. We have no choice. We just heard the news about Iranian missile that flew to Beirut. So our goal is to make peace with Lebanon. But for that to happen, the Lebanese government must take control of the region, push Hezbollah that is south of the litany and Respect Resolution in 1701.

Thank you. Thank you. Ambassador Abdul Hamid Sayyam from the Arabic daily Al Quetzal Arab. Sir, everyone knows that Israel is a nuclear power. If you say no, Fanunu, who fled Israel to London and he gave that important interview with the Times of London and he was kidnapped back to Israel and was arrested for 18 years.

Why? Israel has the right to have to acquire nuclear weapons, but no other Middle Eastern countries has that same right. Thank you.

One should ask your himself about every nation. Who is bringing stabilization to the area and who is bringing chaos.

Israel is a stabilizing force in the region. We want peace. Allow me to answer that. We sign peace treaties, we promote peace, we pray for peace. When you look at the Iranian regime, they are doing exactly the opposite.

They have attacked 13 countries in one month. You know, Israel exists for 77 years. We never had war with certain countries combined. So today you understand that Iran is a problem for instability and Israel is a source for peace. Instability.

Thank you. Question about nuclear capability. I did. Thank you.