Danon to UN: Iran spends $7 billion a year on terrorism

(JNS)—Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon warned the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday about Iran’s terror network in the Middle East, spending $7 billion annually to threaten Israel.

“Iran is exploiting the regime to conduct military operations against Israel, but we will respond with force and remove any threat to our people,” he said at a special session on the latest developments in the Middle East.

“The Iranian regime’s obsession with Israel is not just well-known. It is expensive. Seven billion dollars annually are directed toward the never-ending attempts to destroy Israel,” the ambassador told the chamber’s members as he displayed a map showing the extent of Iran’s financial terror network in the Middle East. “Follow the bloody trail of money starting in Tehran, and you will arrive at the terror tunnels in Lebanon and Gaza and the weapons warehouses in Syria. It is now trying to infiltrate Judea and Samaria.”

Danon also drew attention to Iran’s attempts to infiltrate and attack the West Bank: “With the help of Saleh Al-Arouri, Hamas’s Deputy Political Chief, and Saeed Izadi, the head of the Palestinian branch of the Iranian Quds Force, Iran is trying to turn Judea and Samaria into a fourth military front against Israel. The world’s silence allows Iran to continue with its operations and aggression to undermine stability in the Middle East.”

Iran’s Financial Terror Network in the Middle East—Syria: 4$ billion—Hezbollah (Lebanon): 1$ billion—Shi’ite proxies (Iraq): Hundreds of millions of dollars—Houthi rebels (Yemen): Tens of millions of dollars—Islamic Jihad and Hamas (Gaza): 120$ million.