Defense Minister Israel Katz revealed new details Monday about Israel’s security assessment following operations against Iran, claiming the damage to Tehran’s military capabilities runs deeper than previously reported.
According to Katz, Israel successfully struck Iran’s missile production infrastructure and launch capabilities. “We acted to suppress Iranian firing capability—we neutralized launchers and missiles, we blocked tunnels and even other things,” he said. “Now they’re pulling missiles out of tunnels. This isn’t the missile stockpile they planned to have, because we hit their production systems hard. They still have a stockpile of missiles… and they can fire missiles, that’s all they can do.”
1+Katz added that despite Iran’s remaining missile inventory, the IDF is ready to respond quickly to any development. “And at lightning speed, in an amazing way, truly amazing, the capability was achieved ahead of ‘Lion’s Roar’ to gain air superiority and strike in Tehran and Iran,” he said. “The IDF is ready for this, ready to renew, to pave the way, to attack and to defend.”
1+The defense minister also addressed home front preparations during the operation, explaining that decisions on gathering restrictions were made based on intelligence warnings. “If we see something that poses a more tangible danger, we’ll also brief the home front, extend defense measures and extend to offense,” he said. Katz later offered an assessment of the Gaza Strip and Hamas’s rearmament efforts. When asked whether the terror organization is rearming, he replied: “Hamas is rearming? I don’t know about that—we’re in Philadelphi, thank God.”
According to Katz, Israel now enjoys a clear strategic advantage over Iran following the operation’s achievements. “I think in Iran, Israel has a huge achievement. Operations ‘Rising Lion,’ ‘Lion’s Roar’—let’s take Israel and Iran before and after and see where each one stands.” Katz added that despite the damage to the Israeli home front, the scale of casualties was significantly lower than early assessments. “We had, to our pain and sorrow, fatalities on the home front… not in the very large numbers we feared there would be, mainly because of both the defense capability and the offensive strikes that neutralized and brought it down to very low numbers.”
The defense minister added that the leadership of the Iranian axis has gone underground following Israeli operations. “Iran’s leadership right now is underground, inside bunkers. Hamas leadership is in bunkers, Hezbollah leadership is in bunkers, and there’s no need—the Houthis, they’re also in bunkers. That’s the situation right now.” According to him, “When we operate, then everyone there is marked for death, but right now we’re in the situation we’re in.”