Israel's ex-PM calls for destruction of Iran nuclear facilities after attack

Projectiles are seen in the sky after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from Tel Aviv, Israel, October 1, 2024. Photo: Reuters
Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett on Wednesday called for a decisive strike to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities in the wake of the massive missile barrage fired by Tehran at Israel.

"We must act now to destroy Iran's nuclear program, its central energy facilities, and to fatally cripple this terrorist regime," Bennett wrote on X just hours after the attack on Israel on Tuesday.

"We have the justification. We have the tools. Now that Hezbollah and Hamas are paralysed, Iran stands exposed," wrote Bennett.

In a separate statement, Israel's main opposition leader Yair Lapid said Iran should pay a "significant and heavy price" for the attack.

"Tehran knows that Israel is coming. The response needs to be tough and it should send an unequivocal message to the terror axis in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, Gaza and in Iran itself," said Lapid, who also briefly served as premier in 2022.

Iran has been accused of seeking to develop atomic weapons, though the Islamic republic insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

Israel is widely known to have nuclear weapons but has never admitted so.

Tuesday's attack was Iran's second direct strike on Israel after a missile and drone attack in April in response to a deadly Israeli air strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

While Iran-backed groups across the region had already been drawn into the Gaza war, sparked by Palestinian group Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, Tehran had largely refrained from direct attacks on its regional foe.

Bennett took power following elections in 2021 and oversaw a broad political coalition but only manged to stay in office for a year.