Middle East War: Israel signals conditional openness to halt hostilities
“We are always in favor of diplomacy,” Israeli Ambassador to India Reuven Azar told distinguished journalists in New Delhi as the war entered its 17th day. “We are always in favor of diplomacy. Unfortunately, we have exhausted diplomacy to the point of having to take military action. We hope that diplomacy will come back to the agenda as a result of our military action.”
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He said Israel has been in contact through many diplomatic channels in recent days, including with the United States, its partners in West Asia and some countries with which it does not have formal diplomatic ties.
Azar said that through military action “we managed to greatly reduce Iran’s launch capabilities.” “We are currently controlling the skies of Iran,” he said.
The Israeli envoy said the aim of the military strikes was not to invade Iran but to give Iranians a chance to take over the current Islamist regime and make changes.
“Neither the United States nor Israel has any intention of invading Iran… We want to give the Iranian people a situation where they can actually put pressure on policy change or regime change,” Azar said.
