Netanyahu Says Attack on Iran ‘Achieved All Its Goals’

 26 October 2024, Iran, Tehran: People go about their daily lives after the Israeli strike in Iran. (dpa)
26 October 2024, Iran, Tehran: People go about their daily lives after the Israeli strike in Iran. (dpa)
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Netanyahu Says Attack on Iran ‘Achieved All Its Goals’

 26 October 2024, Iran, Tehran: People go about their daily lives after the Israeli strike in Iran. (dpa)
26 October 2024, Iran, Tehran: People go about their daily lives after the Israeli strike in Iran. (dpa)

Israel hit hard Iran's ability to defend itself and to produce missiles when its air force struck two nights ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

"The air force attacked throughout Iran. We hit hard Iran's defense capabilities and its ability to produce missiles that are aimed at us," Netanyahu said in a speech.

"The attack in Iran was precise and powerful, and it achieved all its objectives," he said.

He spoke a day after Israeli warplanes hit several military targets in Iran in retaliation for an Iranian ballistic missile attack on Israel earlier this month.  

Earlier on Sunday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Iranian officials should determine how best to demonstrate Tehran’s power to Israel after the attack, Iran's official IRNA news agency cited him as saying.  

"The evil committed by the Zionist regime (Israel) two nights ago should neither be downplayed nor exaggerated," he added.  

Iran on Saturday played down Israel's overnight air attack, saying it caused only limited damage, as US President Joe Biden called for a halt to escalation that has raised fears of an all-out conflagration in the Middle East.    

Scores of Israeli jets completed three waves of strikes before dawn against missile factories and other sites near Tehran and in western Iran, Israel's military said.   

Khamenei said Iran's power should be demonstrated to Israel, adding that the way to do so should be "determined by the officials and that which is in the best interest of the people and the country should take place".

Iran reserves the right to respond to Israel's "criminal aggression", Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told the United Nations Secretary-General in a letter calling for an urgent Security Council meeting, Iran's foreign ministry said on Sunday.



US, EU Call for Probe after Reports of Georgia Election Violations

Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)
Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)
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US, EU Call for Probe after Reports of Georgia Election Violations

Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)
Members of an election commission count ballots at a polling station after the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Kostya Manenkov)

Georgia's president called for protests on Monday following a disputed parliamentary election, and the United States and the European Union urged a full investigation into reports of violations in the voting.
The results, with almost all precincts counted, were a blow for pro-Western Georgians who had cast Saturday's election as a choice between a ruling party that has deepened ties with Russia and an opposition aiming to fast-track integration with Europe, said Reuters.
Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said on Sunday they had registered incidents of vote-buying, voter intimidation, and ballot-stuffing that could have affected the outcome, but they stopped short of saying the election was rigged.
President Salome Zourabichvili urged people to take to the streets to protest against the results of the ballot, which the electoral commission said the ruling party had won.
In an address on Sunday, she referred to the result as a "Russian special operation". She did not clarify what she meant by the term.
The ruling Georgian Dream party, of which Zourabichvili is a fierce critic, clinched nearly 54% of the vote, the commission said, as opposition parties contested the outcome and vote monitors reported significant violations.
Georgian media cited Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze as saying on Monday that the opposition was attempting to topple the "constitutional order" and that his government remained committed to European integration.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States joined calls from observers for a full probe.
"Going forward, we encourage Georgia's political leaders to respect the rule of law, repeal legislation that undermines fundamental freedoms, and address deficiencies in the electoral process together," Blinken said in a statement.
Earlier, the European Union urged Georgia to swiftly and transparently investigate the alleged irregularities in the vote.
"The EU recalls that any legislation that undermines the fundamental rights and freedoms of Georgian citizens and runs counter to the values and principles upon which the EU is founded, must be repealed," the European Commission said in a joint statement with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
President Zourabichvili, a former Georgian Dream ally who won the 2018 presidential vote as an independent, urged Georgians to protest in the center of the capital Tbilisi on Monday evening, to show the world "that we do not recognize these elections".
For years, Georgia was one of the most pro-Western countries to emerge from the Soviet Union, with polls showing many Georgians disliking Russia for its support of two breakaway regions of their country.
Russia defeated Georgia in their brief war over the rebel province of South Ossetia in 2008.
The election result poses a challenge to the EU's ambition to expand by bringing in more former Soviet states.
Moldova earlier this month narrowly approved adding a clause to the constitution defining EU accession as a goal. Moldovan officials said Russia meddled in the election, a claim denied by Moscow.