Prime Minister Naftali Bennett says the Islamic Republic will pay the price of targeting and threatening Israel on its own territory, implicitly confirming Israel’s role in the assassinations of IRGC officers. 

During an interview with a New York Times columnist on June 21, Bennett said when Iranians “hit us through proxies or directly, they will pay a price in Iran.” 

Describing what he calls his “Octopus doctrine,” he said Israel hits Tehran at the head of the octopus rather than its tentacles that have spread across the region.

Bennett added, “It turns out these guys are more vulnerable than they seem. The Iranian regime is rotten, corrupt — and incompetent.”

Bennet accused Tehran of “violating fundamental requirements” of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and seeking to strike Israel directly using unmanned aerial vehicle.

Late in May, the New York Times quoted an Israeli intelligence official as saying that Tel Aviv has informed American officials it was responsible for the killing of Colonel Hassan Sayyad-Khodaei -- a member of IRGC’ Quds Force in Tehran, adding that the Israelis killed him as a warning to Iran to halt the operations of a covert group within the Quds Force known as Unit 840, tasked with abductions and assassinations of foreigners around the world, including Israeli civilians and officials. Israel later denied the country took responsibility for the assassination.