Benjamin Netanyahu says Israeli strikes destroyed 70% of Iran’s steel capacity, weakening weapons production
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that Israeli strikes have destroyed about 70 percent of Iran’s steel production capacity, significantly hindering its ability to manufacture weapons.
Steel is a strategically important material used in industrial and military production, including of missiles, drones and ships.
“Together with our American friends, we continue to crush the terror regime in Iran. We are eliminating commanders, bombing bridges, bombing infrastructures,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.
“In recent days, the Air Force has destroyed 70 percent of Iran’s steel production capacity,” he said.
“This is a tremendous achievement that deprives the Revolutionary Guards of both financial resources and the ability to produce many weapons.”
Iran’s two largest steel plants have been forced out of action by several waves of US and Israeli air attacks.
Iran’s Khuzestan Steel Company and Mobarakeh Steel Company have said it would take months for them to restructure the plants.
The Revolutionary Guards have since launched missile and drone strikes on industrial areas across the region and Israel in retaliation for the attacks on the steel plants.
The Guards also threatened further retaliation if such attacks happened again.