‘Peace through strength’, Trump’s leadership created pivot of history: Netanyahu

Jerusalem: Applauding US President Donald Trump’s “bold decision” to hit Iran’s nuclear facilities, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that it demonstrated “peace through strength” and will lead to a future of peace and prosperity in the region and beyond.

The US struck three sites in Iran early Sunday with the aim of destroying the country's nuclear programme. The sites attacked were Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan.

“Your (Trump’s) bold decision to target Iran’s nuclear facilities with the awesome and righteous might of the United States will change history," Netanyahu said.

“In Operation Rising Lion, Israel has done truly amazing things. But in tonight’s action against Iran’s nuclear facilities, America has been truly unsurpassed. It has done what no other country on earth could do," the Israeli Prime Minister said.

Israel launched Operation Rising Lion on June 13, targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile production and storage facilities to get rid of both. It has for years been calling Iran’s nuclear programme an existential threat and has vowed to foil its nuclear ambition at any cost.

Iran has maintained that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

The Israeli leader asserted that history would remember Trump for denying ‘the world’s most dangerous regime the world’s most dangerous weapons’.

“His leadership today has created a pivot of history that can help lead the Middle East and beyond to a future of prosperity and peace," Netanyahu stressed.

“President Trump and I often say: Peace through strength. First comes strength, then comes peace”, the Israeli Prime Minister asserted.

And tonight, President Trump and the United States acted with a lot of strength, he said.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the US attack on Iranian nuclear facilities a 'decisive moment' and a triumph of "liberty, responsibility and security".

"In the pages of human history, this is a moment when the principles of liberty, responsibility, and security have triumphed. A decisive moment between the axis of terror and evil and the axis of hope," Herzog wrote on the social media platform X.

"This brave step serves the security and safety of the entire free world. I hope it will lead to a better future for the Middle East — and help advance the urgent release of our hostages held in captivity in Gaza," the Israeli President said.

Israel had been saying that it would destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities on its own, if required, but was urging the United States to support through its capabilities for a “swift end to it”.