JERUSALEM, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel would not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons and would expand domestic arms production to reduce dependence on foreign purchases.
"Our policy is clear: with an agreement or without an agreement, Iran will not have nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said at an air force pilots' graduation ceremony.
If the United States and Israel had not launched the strikes on Iran, "Iran would have armed itself," he said, referring to Israel's allegation that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons, which Iran had denied.
Netanyahu also announced plans to add 350 billion shekels (about 116 billion U.S. dollars) to the defense budget over the next decade.
"A large part of this will go to the air force, but within it we will also develop a broad Israeli-made munitions industry," he said, adding that the move would "reduce dependence on purchases from abroad."
The remarks came as the United States and Iran exchanged new strikes, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying a deal with Tehran was "over."
Israel's military chief Eyal Zamir said Israel was "closely monitoring developments in Iran and Lebanon and ready for immediate action," while Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military was "alert and ready for the resumption of the campaign." ■
