“We must prepare now and set up safe places for millions of people who do not have a safe shelter,” Lieberman, leader of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu Party, said on Wednesday, according to Press TV.
His remarks come after he acknowledged that powerful Iranian missile strikes caused heavy damage to Israeli “strategic targets” during the 12-day war last June.
On June 13, Israel launched an unprovoked war of aggression against Iran, which the United States later joined. In response, Iranian armed forces struck strategic targets across the occupied territories and the al-Udeid air base in Qatar, the largest US military installation in West Asia.
Overwhelmed by the unceasing counterstrikes, the Israeli regime was compelled to seek a ceasefire.
Lieberman also said the decision to go to war with Iran ultimately lies with US President Donald Trump.
“We are at a stage where Israel must calm down and wait,” he said, alleging that Israel has “little ability to influence President Trump, as he is the one who makes the fateful decisions.”
Several Israeli officials, including Israeli military chief of staff Gen. Eyal Zamir and the head of Mossad spy agency, David Barnea, have visited Washington in recent weeks amid the ongoing US military buildup near Iran.
US media outlet Axios reported that US officials say Israel has been pressing Trump to authorize a strike on Iran, but he has so far remained reluctant.
“It’s really the Israelis who want a strike. The president is just not there,” a US official said.
The report comes as the threat of a military confrontation between Iran and the US has de-escalated in recent days, following statements from both sides that they might resume talks surrounding Tehran’s nuclear program.
Last month, President Trump threatened to attack Iran as he called on violent rioters to seize state institutions and promised them that “help is on its way.”
Iranian officials warned that any attack on the country would prompt an immediate and powerful response, targeting US bases and forces across the region as well as Israeli-occupied cities.
Trump has since shifted his rhetoric from the threat of military action to calling for a nuclear deal with Iran.
Axios quoted three senior Trump advisers as saying that Trump and many in his close orbit are now skeptical that a military attack on Iran would be the right decision.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has warned that any war initiated by the US against Iran would turn into a regional war.
MNA
