New Delhi [India], June 13 (ANI): Israel on Friday launched pre-emptive strikes on Iran under Operation Rising Lion. The action was taken to negate Iran's attempts at assembling a nuclear weapon. Israeli Ambassador to India Reuven Azar highlighted Iran's 'illicit military nuclear program,' and accused them of accumulating enriched uranium.'

In an exclusive Interview with ANI, Azar said, 'In the last few months, they have sped up the pace of enriched uranium, and now they have enriched uranium for nine nuclear bombs. But what triggered this in the more immediate context is the fact that there was a clandestine group that had been working on actually assembling the nuclear weapon on a ballistic missile. So that would create a situation in which Israel could be attacked by nuclear ballistic missiles, thousands of them.'

The envoy said that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has determined that Iran has breached the safeguards agreement and has been conducting illicit and undeclared nuclear activity.

'And we are a state just half the size of Haryana or the size of Mizoram. For us, this is something that we cannot bear. We have also seen that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has determined that Iran has breached the safeguards agreement and has been conducting illicit and undeclared nuclear activity outside of the scope of what they have been agreeing to abide by under the umbrella of the Non-Proliferation Treaty,' he said.

Azar said that while Israel has no issue with Iran having nuclear power plants for electricity generation, the country cannot be allowed to enrich uranium itself.

'Well, we haven't at any time mentioned that Iran cannot have nuclear power plants for electricity. What we didn't want was for Iran to possess the ability to enrich uranium by itself, because that would be an element in the composition of a nuclear arsenal. You have to understand. You need three components 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 to put in a bomb. And you need a nuclear warhead. So if they have developed the plans, and we have already exposed that with the nuclear information that we have seized. About pairing the warhead with the missile. That 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 which is being imported to create electricity. We haven't said that that's not possible,' he said.

He also underscored that Israel's military response had come after prolonged restraint.

'I think that Israel has been acting very responsibly because we've 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've 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 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 by Israel as Israel, if not 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 directly attacked the oil production of Saudi Arabia. So I think that Israel is supported. And people, even if they don't support, they understand why we are taking this action,' Azar added.

Meanwhile, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed that the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, the Commander of the IRGC, and the Commander of Iran's Emergency Command were all eliminated in Israeli strikes across Iran carried out by more than 200 fighter jets. (ANI)