Trump acted in judicious way in Iran attacks, Netanyahu says
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that US President Donald Trump acted in a judicious way in ordering attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that US President Donald Trump acted in a judicious way in ordering attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June.
The exercises, dubbed Sustainable Power 1404, featured the simultaneous use of Nasir, Qadir, and Ghader anti-ship cruise missiles launched from coastal batteries and warships, including the Genaveh missile boat and the Sabalan destroyer.
“These missiles, with different ranges, successfully hit their designated targets at sea,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency said. Officials described the systems as radar-evading, high-precision and designed to counter both naval and coastal targets.
The drills took place around a month after the Iran-Russia drill under the name Casarex 2025, which took place in Iran's northern waters -- the Caspian Sea.
Marking National Defense Industry Day, Iran’s Defense Ministry said the country had advanced “from the peak of dependence on foreigners to the heights of self-sufficiency and power” in the missile, weapons and space sectors.
It warned that “any miscalculation in the region will be met with a very strong response from Iran’s powerful armed forces.”
The ministry said the 12-day war in June had demonstrated the effectiveness of Iranian weaponry, adding that Tehran’s defense industry will continue to expand without a moment of hesitation.
Army Navy vs Guard Navy
Iran maintains two distinct naval forces under separate command structures: the conventional Islamic Republic of Iran Navy -- a force within the traditional army --and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.
While both are tasked with defending Iranian interests at sea, their missions, capabilities and areas of operation differ, according to a Defense News analysis.
“The IRGC Navy and the Iranian Navy have two separate command structures. While some of their responsibilities overlap, the primary difference is the methods and strategies of operation,” analyst Sina Azodi told Defense News.
He added that the IRGC Navy emphasizes asymmetric operations, relying on fast boats, missile-equipped vessels and hit-and-run tactics, while the traditional Navy deploys larger platforms such as frigates, corvettes and submarines.
According to Mohamed al-Kenany, head of the military studies unit at the Cairo-based Arab Forum for Analyzing Iranian Policies, another key distinction is geography.
Iran’s navy patrols the Gulf of Oman, the Indian Ocean and the Caspian Sea, while the Revolutionary Guard controls the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, where it has seized Western vessels and shadowed US warships during past tensions.
Al-Kenany added that the IRGC’s use of naval mines and swarms of small craft makes its anti-access strategy in the Persian Gulf highly effective, while the conventional Navy remains constrained by aging 1970s-era frigates and corvettes and sanctions that block modernization.
Since 1979, the United States has imposed sanctions on Iran that restrict access to advanced military technology, forcing Tehran to rely on indigenous development and adaptations of older systems.
Top commanders call for modernization
Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi said Iran’s only guarantee of security was to continually upgrade its systems.
“The only way to shield the country from threats is to enhance deterrence and modernize our ground, naval, aerospace, air defense, cyber and electronic warfare capabilities,” he said in a message to Defense Minister Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh.
Nasirzadeh himself told reporters on Wednesday that Iran had developed a new generation of missiles with greater capabilities than those used in the June conflict.
“The missiles we used in the 12-day war were built several years ago. Today we possess missiles with far better capabilities, and if the Zionist enemy embarks on another adventure, we will certainly use them,” he said.
He added that Israel’s missile-defense systems, including the US-made THAAD, Patriot, Arrow and Iron Dome, had proven ineffective. “In the early days, about 40% of our missiles were intercepted, but by the end of the war, 90% were striking their targets,” he said.
'War is not over'
Earlier in the week, Senior Revolutionary Guards general Yahya Rahim Safavi, now top adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, dismissed the June ceasefire as temporary.
“We are not in a ceasefire, we are in a stage of war. No protocol, regulation, or agreement has been written between us and the US or Israel. I think another war may happen, and after that, there may be no more wars,” he said.
Safavi argued that Iran must continue to expand its diplomatic, cyber, missile and drone capabilities. “In the system of nature, the weak are trampled. Therefore, Iran must also become strong,” he said.
Israel vows readiness
Israel’s military chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said earlier this month the June campaign had been a preemptive strike to eliminate an “emerging existential threat” from Iran.
“If necessary, we will know how to act again with precision, intensity and lethality,” he said.
Israel launched surprise strikes on June 13 that killed senior Iranian commanders and nuclear scientists and damaged nuclear and air defense sites. Iran says 1,062 people were killed, including 786 military personnel and 276 civilians.
Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks that killed 31 civilians and one off-duty soldier in Israel. The conflict ended with a US-brokered ceasefire on June 24.
Both Tehran and Tel Aviv claimed victory in June, but the rhetoric since then has underscored the fragile truce and the risk of a renewed confrontation in the region.
Speaking to the TRIGGERnometry podcast aired Wednesday evening, Netanyahu said: “President Trump has proven an exceptional, exceptional friend of Israel, an exceptional leader. And he did exactly the right action, the precise action using American power, and came in, I think, in a very forceful but judicious way."
Trump ordered strikes on three of Iran’s main nuclear sites, calling the program “obliterated,” but experts dispute that, saying bombs likely failed to penetrate underground halls, and with UN inspectors barred, the true damage is uncertain.
The long-time Israeli premier told the show that the war on Iran was a preemptive attack after years of threats to annihilate the Jewish state.
Israel launched surprise strikes on June 13 that killed senior Iranian commanders and nuclear scientists and damaged nuclear and air defense sites. Iran says 1,062 people were killed, including 786 military personnel and 276 civilians.
Netanyahu said, “I'll tell you the lessons we, the Jewish people, took from history. Number one is when somebody says they're going to annihilate you, take it seriously. Don't wait for them to do it, but prevent them, as we did in the remarkable action that we took against Iran, because they were developing nuclear weapons, and they were going to have 20,000 ballistic missiles, one tonne ballistic missiles... that would obliterate us."
Netanyahu said the October 7 attack was part of “the Iranian terror axis,” describing how Tehran built a network of proxies to annihilate Israel through a simultaneous assault: Hamas from the south, Hezbollah from the north, waves of ballistic missiles and rockets from Lebanon, Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, and even Iran itself.
He added that Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel came prematurely, disrupting Iran’s broader plan for a coordinated assault by all its regional allies.
“This was meant to be a simultaneous surprise attack that would hobble Israel and destroy it. I think what happened was that they [investigators] discovered that, basically Hamas fired too soon. They didn't coordinate," he added.
