DUBAI: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said that he will not ask US President Donald Trump for a green light to strike Iran. “I will brief Trump on what we intend to do, but I will not ask him for the green light to strike Iran,” Netanyahu said. “I have issued a directive stating that the only acceptable solution is the overthrow of the regime in Iran.” Netanyahu planned to carry out strikes against Iran earlier this month but Trump objected to the idea of reigniting the fighting before the US midterm elections, the Financial Times reported Wednesday, citing anonymous sources. The UK newspaper reported that the Israel Defense Forces was ready to carry out strikes on the weekend of October 10 to target Iranian nuclear facilities and regime sites, as well as civilian infrastructure including energy plants. “Iran wanted to destroy us; we stopped them. They wanted to produce nuclear bombs; we stopped them … Yet they persist,” Netanyahu said during an election rally in the southern town of Dimona. “Therefore, there is only one way to end this: by toppling this regime.” “This is the directive I have issued to the Israel Defense Forces, to the Mossad, and to all our security branches,” he added, without specifying when or how that directive would be executed. Israeli military in massive ‘power projection’ near Iran’s border Dozens of Israeli air force fighter jets conducted a sortie on Monday, flying as far as the Iranian border, Axios reported, quoting Israeli and US officials. The operation happened a week before the Israeli elections and on the same day US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with the Israeli leader. Axios reported that while some Israeli and US officials said the sortie was not unusual and that it was meant to deter Iran, it could have led to a miscalculation, triggering an Iranian response and reigniting the war. According to the sources, Israel notified the US in advance and described the operation as a training exercise intended for “power projection” and aimed at deterring Iran from launching attacks against Israel ahead of the elections. Opposition chief: Netanyahu dangerously politicizing the country’s security Israel’s opposition chief on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of dangerously politicizing the country’s security ahead of elections, after he made a series of threats against Iran. “I’m just stunned at hearing Netanyahu recklessly hurling around security threats,” said former prime minister Yair Lapid, the centrist chief of Israel’s parliamentary opposition and a contender in next Tuesday’s election. “Netanyahu is turning Israel’s security into an electoral circus,” he said. “This man is responsible for the longest string of security failures in Israel’s history.” Netanyahu is running neck and neck in recent polls against an opposition bloc that includes Lapid and is led by Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief. The opposition has sought to highlight Netanyahu’s failure to prevent the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, the deadliest in Israel’s history.