Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear bombs aimed at destroying Israel and possesses intercontinental missiles, and that their goal is to make it pay the price while preventing it from becoming a nuclear state.

Netanyahu's remarks came during a ceremony to lay the foundation stone for a memorial to Israelis killed in Operation Protective Edge, in parliament during the opening of its winter session in Jerusalem, today.

The following are the most important points in Netanyahu's statements:

• We are facing a different challenge that threatens us, the Middle East and the whole world.
• Iran seeks to develop nuclear bombs aimed at destroying us and possesses long-range intercontinental missiles.
• Iran is supplying its proxies with deadly weapons and we are standing in their way and foiling their evil plans.
• We struck major factories in Iran and I thank our allies, especially the United States, for their continued cooperation.
• We struck Iranian defense systems and the missiles that Iran was directing at us.
• We want Iran to pay the price and prevent it from becoming a nuclear state.
• We attacked Iran extensively and its arms in the region lost a great deal of ability to defend it.
• Our long-term strategy, which I hope to achieve as soon as possible, is to destroy the axis of evil and cut off its arms in the north and south.
• If Israel falls, the whole world will fall, but we will not lose and we will be victorious for all of humanity.
• We have stood on our feet and directed a relentless war against our enemies that is changing the face of the Middle East.
• We have not returned all the hostages, but we will return the living and the dead.
• We eliminated those responsible for attacking us on October 7 and destroyed Hamas's infrastructure.
• The next day, Hamas will not rule Gaza and Hezbollah will not be deployed on our northern border.
• The Arabs used to want to destroy us, but we made peace with Egypt, Jordan, and recently with 4 Arab countries.
• I am working to continue concluding peace agreements with additional Arab countries within the framework of the Abraham Accords.