Forbes Breaking News.
Feb 28, 2026. Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon speaks at a UN Security Council meeting following the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
> Mr. President, for 47 years, the Islamic regime in Iran has led crowds in chanting Marjbar Israel Marjbar America. do you want to translate these chants? Your leaders have been chanting it for years in public events in your parliament. Marjbar Israel Marjbar America. They mean death to Israel, death to America. Israeli and American flags were painted on roads so they could be trampled. Our flags were burned in public squares.
LThis is not the anger of a radical fringe. It is state sanctioned hatred. And while those marb chance echoed, uranium was enriched, centrifuges span, missiles were built, facilities were buried deep underground. It was never just empty rhetoric. It was preparation for action.
But today, alongside our ally, the United States, we act to stop it. Israel stands before you today, having acted with the United States to confront and stop an existential threat before it became irreversible. The operation targets nuclear infrastructure, ballistic missile sites, the machinery of repression that fuels terror across our region. We did not act of impulse. We did not act of aggression.
We acted out of necessity because the Iranian regime left no reasonable alternative. This joint effort will continue for as long as the threat remains.
We thank President Trump and acknowledge the close cooperation between Israel and the US which has brought the alliance between our countries to an all-time high in peace and in war.
Let us be clear about what we are confronting.
This regime has built nuclear weapons in blatant disregard of international law and UN resolutions. It has brutally murdered its own citizens and crashed descent and it's happened now as we speak in cities in Iran. It has expanded missile arsenals and armed proxies across the region. It has openly declared its intention to erase Israel from the map. Now, as it faces consequences, it is launching missiles and drones across the region, endangering the UAE, where a Pakistani citizen unfortunately was killed. Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Iraq. As we speak in the last hour, Iran targeted the city of Tel Aviv. Civilian, they don't target military bases. Civilians struck a building in Tel Aviv. An innocent woman was killed and [1]21 people were injured.
This is a regime that destabilizes wherever it reaches. It spreads violence outward while crushing freedom at home. It is not reacting. It is expanding. It is a machinery of radicalism that does not recognize borders.
Mr. President, diplomacy was exhausted. Iran was required to stop enriching uranium, stop heavy water projects, stop developing nuclear capable missiles, and allow full inspections. Iran did none of it. Instead, it fortified its nuclear facilities so we cannot get to them, accelerated missile production, and continue to fund terror. Since the last operation in the summer, they spent billions on the proxies.
The resolutions were clear. The strategy was just as clear. Delay, delay, delay. But we will not be played. And it's simple what they were planning. They were building the means to corner us, to force an irreversible reality with our backs against the wall. That is not a future Israel will accept. No responsible nation should.
This operation is guided by clear objectives. eliminate immediate threats, dismantle the nuclear program, destroy its ballistic missile production, neutralize naval threats, break the proxy network that destabilizes the region.
The operation was carried out in order to protect the people of Israel within the framework of the ongoing armed conflict between Israel and Iran in line with the UN charter and in accordance with international law.
Our forces stand ready to stop extremism armed with nuclear weapons. To the soldiers of the IDF, our boys and girls, my son, my daughter, we salute you. You stand like lions defending our people. An entire nation stands behind you.
We have heard the condemnation from few member states, from the secretary general. But we all know that escalation did not begin today. It began when Iran armed proxies and exported terror, expanded missiles and drones, advanced its nuclear program in violation of its commitments, turned on its own people, beating, imprisoning, executing. Where were the outrage of the UN? Where were the consequences? Now Israel acts to prevent an irreversible threat and the condemnation is immediate. This is the definition of hypocrisy.
Some call this aggression. We call it necessity. We call it survival.
Mr. President, history has taught us never to ignore those who openly call for our destruction. When a regime says it will destroy Israel, when it chantss death to Israel, when it promises to wipe Hifa and Tel Aviv off the map, we believe it. We genuinely believe it. When we see those hundreds of ballistic missiles that are launching to Israel, we believe the threats. We do not ignore them. We do not gamble with our survival. We act.
Now, let me address the brave people of Iran. You are not our enemies. This operation is not directed at you. It is directed at a regime that has silenced you, imprisoned you, and invested in missiles and uranium while your economy suffers. You deserve better. It is this regime, the Basij, the revolutionary guard who have dragged your country into a isolation.
The world does not fear a free Iran. It fears a radical regime harmed with nuclear weapons and driven by extremism. Your future should not be defined by those who chant for death. As President Trump had said, the Iranian people deserve dignity, security, and the chance to shape their own destiny. We are thinking about you. You are seen. You are not alone. The future of Iran belongs to its people. We stand with you,
Mr. President. This week, Jewish families all around the world celebrate Purim. Many Israelis will do so now in a bomb shelter. The story of Purim happened more than 2,500 years ago. In the same place in ancient Persia, an evil minister by the name of Haman sought to wipe out the Jewish people. And it began with words, with chants. It became a decree. It could have become a a genocide. But Queen Esther refused to remain silent. She stepped forward. She spoke up. She acted before it was too late. That is the lesson we learned.
It is not only an ancient lesson. It is a modern one. Last week I stood at the gates of Avitz with dozens of UN ambassadors. We stood in a place that shows what happens when radicalism and extremism grows and no one stops it in time. Before the Holocaust, some leaders, serious leaders believed that they could come aggression with concess concessions. They were completely wrong. Giving in did not stop evil. It strengthened it. Winston Churchill understood what Queen Esther understood long before him. When destruction is declared and weapons are being prepared and assembled, leaders must act, not later. Now, today, President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu understand that same lesson.
For decades, the Iranian regime has built missiles enriched uranium, armed proxies, and spread terror far beyond its borders. This regime is not only Israel's enemy. It is an enemy of stability, an enemy of every peaceloving nation. In this joint operation, Israel and the US are acting together. Not because we see conflict
