- Reuven Azar said the US bombing is a warning to Iran against continuing its "aggression".
- He called for the Iranian regime to negotiate the dismantling of its military nuclear programme.
- Israel will coordinate with India, he said, to ensure that Indians who want to leave the country can do so.
The United States' bombing of nuclear sites in Iran is historic and the leadership of President Donald Trump has proven to be "amazing", Israeli Ambassador to India Reuven Azar has said.
Mr Azar, speaking exclusively to NDTV on Sunday, said the bold move not only defends Israel, but the region and the world, and "saves us from nuclear catastrophe".
"It started with an Israeli strike against those installations and against the second existential threat that was the ballistic missile threat - as a result of that, barrages of missiles from Iran have decreased substantially. But now this American action is basically sending a message to Iran that if they continue with their aggression, the price for the regime will be huge," the Israeli ambassador said.
Referring to earlier threats by Iran, Mr Azar continued, "It remains to be seen whether the Iranians decide to retaliate against American targets. I hope they don't. I think it is important to keep this conflict as narrow as possible. I think the Iranians should come back to the table to negotiate the dismantling of their military nuclear programme and the dismantling of their ballistic missile programme."
To a question on whether an Iranian attack on US military bases and units in West Asia is now a possibility, the ambassador said that would be an absolutely irresponsible thing to do.
"Israel has decimated and degraded the Iranian capability to retaliate substantially. Their stockpile of ballistic missiles has dwindled. We have taken out all their air defences, and their capability to continue their aggression against the region has diminished. If you take into account that there is a huge American amassing of force in the region, I think it would be absolutely irresponsible, not only for the region but also for Iran and the Iranian people, if they continue this aggression," he warned.
'Existential Threat'
Mr Azar said the Iranian nuclear military programme was spread over 70 locations and Israel pounded most of them in the last 10 days. The US, he pointed out, has the capability to target locations like the Fordow facility, which is deep underground, and "that's what they decided to do". Follow updates here
"So we are seeing a massive Israeli operation with a complementary action by the United States to neutralise this existential threat for Israel and this terrible threat for the rest of the world. It has been, I think, a very effective action that was taken after decades of trying to convince the Iranians to avoid this course of action. But unfortunately, they didn't take us seriously," he stressed.
The ambassador warned that if Tehran continues attacking Israel, his country will broaden its targets to include the military infrastructure of Iran as a whole.
"As you know, Iran has many military targets that have not been hit yet - their army, their navy, many other capabilities and installations. So there is a lot for Israel to continue hitting if Iran continues to attack us," he said.
Indians in Israel
Asked about the evacuation of Indians from Israel, Mr Azar said his country is coordinating with the Ministry of External Affairs.
"We are, of course, taking care of all the residents in our region, including Indian nationals...
There have been initial efforts to evacuate those Indians that want to leave through the Jordanian border. And we will continue this coordination in order to make sure that no Indian citizens come under threat," he said.
