The Israeli attack “created a state of chaos in Iran,” but Israel needs to assume “there will be an attack against us,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement Friday evening local time.
“It could be an attack in very severe waves,” Netanyahu said, in a statement made in Hebrew.
Israel is preparing for more potential Iranian retaliation, he said.
“Citizens of Israel, you need to understand, do not be euphoric,” Netanyahu said.
Residents check the remains of an Iranian projectile that was headed for Israel, after it fell in Syria’s southwestern Daraa province on June 13, 2025.
Sam Hariri/AFP via Getty Images
“We informed the Americans in advance. They knew about the attack. What the U.S. will do now I leave to the president. Trump makes decisions independently,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu said he targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities because “if Iran has nuclear weapons, we won’t be able to be here, so that’s the first target.”
A graphic titled “Israeli army launches strikes on Iran” created in Ankara, Turkey, June 13, 2025.
Yilmaz Yucel/Anadolu via Getty Images
Netanyahu said he gave his military the directive to attack Iran after former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Lebanon in September 2024. Netanyahu originally set the date of the attack for the end of April, but said it was “postponed” for “various reasons.”
Netanyahu said he wanted to attack Iran twice before but was unable to get a political majority to support the attack.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
