Israeli DM fires back at Iran over threats: ‘Hit us and we’ll bomb you back to the Stone Age’

Israeli defense chief responds to Iranian threats of a large-scale attack if IDF seizes Hezbollah stronghold, vowing to bomb Iran’s energy infrastructure if Tehran strikes Israel.

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a sweeping warning to Tehran on Thursday, threatening attacks on Iran’s military, civilian and energy infrastructure if the Islamic Republic strikes Israel, following a report by Reuters that Tehran warned the US it would attack Israel if the IDF seizes a strategically important Hezbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon.

Speaking at a Rosh Hashanah toast for Defense Ministry employees, Katz said Israel believes Iran’s deteriorating internal position could make the regime more dangerous despite the damage inflicted during months of war.

“An Iranian attack on Israel will free Israel from all existing constraints regarding strikes on Iran,” Katz said.

The defense minister said an Israeli response would extend beyond military targets to infrastructure considered central to the functioning of the Iranian state, explicitly including the country’s energy sector.

Israel would strike “all of Iran’s national, military and civilian infrastructure,” Katz said, threatening to send the country “back deep into the Stone Age and darkness.”

The threat is particularly significant because attacks on Iranian oil, gas and electricity infrastructure could have consequences well beyond the battlefield. Iran remains a major energy producer, while the months-long confrontation in and around the Strait of Hormuz has already disrupted shipping and contributed to higher global oil prices.

Katz argued that Iran has so far deliberately avoided directly joining its renewed confrontation with the United States by attacking Israel because its leaders understand the scale of the potential Israeli response.

“The Ayatollah regime in Iran knows very well why it is not attacking Israel,” Katz said.

He pointed to Israel’s previous attacks inside Iran, saying Israeli forces had inflicted heavy damage on the country’s strategic capabilities. Katz also repeated Israel’s claim that it destroyed Iran’s nuclear program and noted the killing of former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the war.

Katz’s warning followed a report by Reuters that cited sources who said that Tehran recently warned the US that it could carry out a massive attack on Israel if IDF forces capture the Hezbollah stronghold on the Ali al-Taher ridge in Lebanon.

It is believed that a number of Iranian personnel, including several senior officers, are trapped there.

Katz said Israeli security officials believe that could change if Iran’s worsening economic and political situation leads its leadership to take greater risks.

“There are signs we are seeing that indicate that the severe economic pressure Iran is under” could push Tehran toward “desperate measures,” he said, citing fears inside Iran of unrest and the possible collapse of the regime.

His assessment echoes increasingly confident statements from both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump about the vulnerability of Iran’s government.

Netanyahu said this week that Israel would ultimately defeat the Islamic Republic’s leadership, declaring, “We will defeat this regime. It will fall, we will bring it down.”

Trump has similarly argued that Iran’s military setbacks and economic deterioration have left Tehran with dwindling options. The president said Wednesday that Iran’s economy was “totally shot” and suggested its ability to continue resisting US pressure was ultimately “just a question of time.”

At the same time, the Trump administration is considering whether to formally declare the Iran war over and rely primarily on sanctions, the blockade and other forms of economic pressure to force Tehran to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Trump has privately discussed such a declaration with senior aides and currently favors the idea.

The Pentagon, however, is simultaneously preparing for the possibility of a much longer confrontation.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has extended deployments for some American forces into 2027, with roughly 50,000 US personnel, 19 warships, fighter aircraft and air-defense units remaining across the Middle East. The force is intended to give Trump the ability to resume or expand military operations rapidly if Tehran escalates.