A “horrible nuclear war” will break out if the world does not stop Tehran from obtaining atomic weapons, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in his first ever address to the Iranian people on Thursday night. 

“If Iran gets a nuclear weapon, this will be a problem all of us will face. It will change the world,” he said in an English-language interview with Washington-based Iran International that was also dubbed into Persian and broadcast in Iran.

A nuclear Iran will cause “the criss-crossing of the Middle East with nuclear trip wires,” as other regimes who understand the danger of a nuclear Iran will rush to arm themselves,” Netanyahu said, using the platform to urge global action in response to Iran’s enrichment of uranium to 84%, which is close to 90% weapons grade.

Netanyahu said he had a message for “those who say, ‘Well, if we take action against Iran, we will face war’ – You will face a war if you don’t, a potentially horrible nuclear war if you don’t.”

“Iran’s nuclear program has hit a danger zone,” he said, adding that Israeli actions had delayed them by a decade, but now the program is pushing forward. The international community must deliver a strong common message to Iran, Netanyahu said.

“We should tell them that if they cross over a nuclear threshold, that is something that we cannot tolerate,” he said. “We have to tell them there is a line you cannot cross, and there is a price to be paid if you do.”

The security of the world and the hopes of the Iranian people are at stake, Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu has long argued that the combination of crippling sanctions and the presence of a credible military threat is the only way to stop Iran from producing nuclear weapons.

“History will change if Iran will get nuclear weapons,” he said, adding that the Iranian people and Israel have a common enemy in the Islamic Republic.

To the Iranian people, “We stand with you; I stand with you,” Netanyahu said. “But now most of the world stands with you. You should know that. Do not lose heart. Be strong.”

In a terse message to the Islamic regime, he said, “We’ll be here long after you’re gone.”

Netanyahu spoke about the growing Iranian threat when he addressed the Jewish community in Rome on Thursday and said he intended to bring the matter up with the Italian prime minister.

He also discussed it with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who met with him at Ben-Gurion Airport prior to his departure to Rome on Thursday.

The US has long said it supports Israel’s right to defend itself. In Israel, however, Austin underscored that US President Joe Biden’s “preference is to explore all diplomatic avenues to ensure that we constrain Iran’s progress in this field, and so we would look to continue to work to make sure that we constrain their dangerous advances.”

Jerusalem Post