Iranian media halted election coverage after Netanyahu avoided crushing defeat anticipated by Tehran

Before Israelis voted, Tehran had publicly said the outcome of the election did not matter to Iran.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Iranian state media halted its coverage of Israel’s election for several hours after early results indicated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not headed for the crushing defeat Tehran had anticipated.

Regime media began an overnight live broadcast Tuesday by celebrating what it described as the “total defeat” of the Israeli prime minister.

But exit poll projections later indicated that losses for the Likud-led coalition would not be as extensive as expected, and the election largely disappeared from state television’s news agenda for several hours.

Even by late Tuesday, it was apparent that Netanyahu’s Likud party would be the largest.

After 100% of the votes were counted Thursday, both Netanyahu’s coalition and the anti-Netanyahu coalition remained short of the number of seats required to form a government.

When Iranian media resumed its election coverage, attention shifted from Netanyahu’s performance toward gains by Arab parties and the inability of either the government or opposition bloc to secure a parliamentary majority.

Radio Tehran suggested the resulting political uncertainty could provide opportunities for Iran-backed militant groups to wreak havoc.

“The current situation could lead to the overthrow of the Zionist regime and empower the axis of resistance, including in the Gaza Strip, for further operations against the Zionist occupation,” the station claimed.

Before Israelis voted, Tehran had publicly said the outcome of the election did not matter to Iran.

Iran’s foreign ministry said the result of the Israeli election, in which Netanyahu was facing a tight race, would make “no difference.”

“It makes no difference to us who, in these elections, takes the helm of a regime that has brought nothing but violence and massacres to our region,” ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said in a weekly press briefing a day before the Knesset election.

The change in Iranian media coverage came after its initial declaration of Netanyahu’s “total defeat” and as projections showed Likud remaining the largest party, while neither political bloc secured enough seats to form a government.