Israeli president’s message to CEOs in D.C.: ‘We need to be steadfast, take a deep breath, and finish the undermining of Iran’

Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke yesterday to a group of business leaders gathered in Washington at the Yale CEO Caucus. While discussions during the gathering were off the record, Herzog made his virtual remarks on the record. His main message was to convey a sense of regional solidarity around the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran and what he described as the “NATO-like” response of Gulf neighbors to Iran’s widespread retaliatory bombing, while characterizing the offensive as a prerequisite for Middle East prosperity.

Herzog also spoke glowingly of America’s role as a partner, saying, “The incredible cooperation that we have between our militaries is unprecedented, compared even to some of the alignment of the allies in World War II.” While the president acknowledged the cost and controversy around the military strikes, which killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he underscored the urgency of the situation.

“Iran was recharging and reigniting its program, its nuclear program, in clandestine new sites that were extremely sensitive, and we could have missed the opportunity of taking care of them,” he said, adding: “Iran was rushing a plan of 20,000 ballistic missiles. They had 2,000 at the opening of this operation. Twenty t...