Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement as Israel imposes nightly curfews in dozens of towns and neighborhoods to stem the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Beit Shemesh, Israel, Sept. 8, 2020. Photo: Alex Kolomoisky / Pool via Reuters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to send a message to both Iran and the White House on Tuesday, pledging that Israel will prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons even if Iran concludes a deal with the US.

Messages from Israel over the last month on its approach to the Iran nuclear issue have been mixed, with some reports indicating that Israel might work with the Biden administration as it seeks a new deal with Iran.

In his Tuesday speech, Netanyahu struck a more unilateral note.

Addressing Iran’s leaders directly, he said, “We will not allow your extremist and aggressive regime to attain nuclear weapons.”

“We have not made the journey of generations, of thousands of years, to return to the Land of Israel, to allow the delusional regime of the ayatollahs to end the story of the revival of the Jewish people,” he pledged.

He hinted that Israel was prepared to act on its own against Iran, saying, “We are not pinning our hopes on any agreement with an extremist regime such as yours. We have already seen the quality of agreements with extremist regimes such as yours in the past century and in this one.”

Netanyahu cited North Korea, which concluded nuclear agreements with Western countries and then violated them, as an example.

“With or without agreements, we will do everything so that you will not arm yourselves with nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu asserted.