Israel Plans No Response to Ship Attack

14 April 2021, Israel, Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lays a wreath during an official ceremony at Mount Herzl military cemetery. dpa
14 April 2021, Israel, Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lays a wreath during an official ceremony at Mount Herzl military cemetery. dpa
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Israel Plans No Response to Ship Attack

14 April 2021, Israel, Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lays a wreath during an official ceremony at Mount Herzl military cemetery. dpa
14 April 2021, Israel, Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lays a wreath during an official ceremony at Mount Herzl military cemetery. dpa

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued veiled threats to Iranian leaders, although a high-ranking Israeli officer denied any intention to respond to an Iranian attack on an Israeli-owned ship off the UAE coast.

However, Netanyahu warned of mistaking “self-restraint” to “weakness.”

Speaking at the main ceremony to commemorate Israel's fallen service people, Netanyahu said the 1973 Yom Kippur War “and the tremendous sacrifice made by our fighters paved the way for peace with Egypt but also taught us an invaluable lesson: We must never remain indifferent to threats of annihilation and destruction by those who hate us.”

He added: “We must hold onto our land with all our might and with all our determination.”

"This number, 73, expresses that. It is a number that is deeply engraved in me, in all of us. I remember that terrible night in February of 1997, the night we lost 73 soldiers in the helicopter disaster. One of the fallen was Kobi, the son of our friend Eli Ben-Shem.

The number 73 is linked to another period that greatly tested our people. I remember the fall of '73 very clearly: The Yom Kippur War began with the shock of a surprise attack and ended in a great victory,” the PM added.

In a related context, "Israel Defense" website revealed in a report the map of the nuclear reactor and the volume of the strike that targeted it on Sunday.

The current enrichment capacity at the Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) and Fordow plant is 8,258 SWU per year.

If Iran installs all cascades of advanced centrifuges it is currently installing and firmly planning (a total of six), the total capacity increases to almost 12,900 SWU per year. This enrichment capacity is almost three times larger than allowed under the JCPOA, the report added.



North Korea's Kim Urges Improved Military Capabilities for War

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during a meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Nov. 15, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during a meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Nov. 15, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
TT

North Korea's Kim Urges Improved Military Capabilities for War

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during a meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Nov. 15, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during a meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Nov. 15, 2024. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged the country's military to improve capabilities for fighting a war in a speech last week, state media KCNA said on Monday, after Pyongyang dispatched thousands of troops to Russia.
Kim delivered the speech to a conference of battalion commanders and political instructors held in Pyongyang on Friday, during which he called for building political and military strength and fighting efficiency to ensure that the armed forces can cope with a war, reported Reuters.
Threats from the United States and its allies including South Korea and their military confrontation with North Korea have brought tension to "the worst phase in history," he said, calling the Korean peninsula "the world's biggest hotspot."
"He ardently called upon all the participants to go all out for bringing about substantial and fundamental improvement in improving their capabilities for fighting an actual war," KCNA said.
The report came amid international criticism over rapidly developing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia.
Washington, Seoul and Kyiv have said there are more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers in Russia to support its war against Ukraine, and some of them have engaged in combat in Kursk, near the Ukraine border.
KCNA said a workshop was given for military officers over the weekend as part of the conference, which was aimed at strengthening the battalions, bolstering their fighting efficiency and "rounding off war preparations as required by the prevailing situation and modern warfare."
In a separate dispatch, KCNA said a Russian delegation led by National Resources and Ecology Minister Alexander Kozlov arrived in Pyongyang on Sunday for trade and economy talks.
Last week, Kim guided a test of suicide drones and ordered their mass production, citing an intensifying competition for adopting such weapons around the world.
US President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba condemned North Korea and Russia's decision to "dangerously expand" the Ukraine war as they held a summit on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Peru.
Biden's administration has allowed Ukraine to use US-made weapons to strike deep into Russia, sources told Reuters, marking a significant policy reversal
and a response to Russia's deployment of North Korean ground troops.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that North Korean troops had suffered casualties in combat with his country's forces, and the first battles between them " open a new page in instability."