Israel's envoy to Manila has justified Tel Aviv's unprecedented attack on Iran, which escalated yet another conflict in the region, by saying it did in response to threats—and even actions—of the Iranian regime to annihilate the whole Jewish nation.

Israel bombarded on June 13 Iranian's key military and nuclear facilities, marking the first direct confrontation between the two militarily powerful Middle Eastern countries since October 7, 2023—when Israel announced war against Hamas, a militant organization allegedly funded by Iran.

The answer is, in a way, quite simple, Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss said in a discussion with Filipino journalists on Tuesday, June 24.

Fluss said Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei publicly announced clearly the intention to annihilate Israel, which he did not even recognize as a state.

In the months leading up to Israel's surprising attack, Fluss said Tehran had accelerated its uranium enrichment, reaching 60 percent that is enough to produce nearly a dozen atomic bombs.

International efforts to stop it have already failed, said Fluss, that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released a report that Iran is already violating the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

“This effort to enrich uranium to such a level was accelerated in the last three months, and only three months they're able to enlarge the amount from an amount for six bombs to enough for nine bombs in three months,” Fluss said.

“We have all the evidence that Iran was accelerating the weaponization program... So weaponization has been increased dramatically in the last few months,” he added.

“Besides, Iran's ballistic missile program also accelerated. From producing 100 missiles a month, Tehran had ramped up its production to 300 a month,” Fluss said.

“They were in the process of increasing to 300 missiles a month, with the aim of having more than 10,000 missiles. You ask yourself, why 10,000 missiles? Not many countries have so many missiles,” he added.

The Israeli envoy also noted the orchestrated program among Iran's proxies in across the Middle East—namely Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, the Islamic Jihad and Syrian former president Bashar al-Assad—to eventually annihilate Israel.

“The moment Iran would have a nuclear weapon, you cannot touch it anymore,” he said.

“Do you want Israel to commit suicide and not to respond to an imminent threat to its existence?” Fluss asked.

Iran and the US were under informal talks on a nuclear deal before the Israeli attack. The two countries were set to have their sixth round of negotiation in Oman on June 15, but was put off when Tel Aviv launched attacks on the capital Tehran, Iran’s main uranium enrichment site in Natanz, and a nuclear research centre in Tabriz.

Israel also killed Iran's top military officials and nuclear scientists during the attack.

On June 21 (Washington time), the US, an Israel ally, finally joined the conflict when it used its B-2 stealth bombers to hit Iran's nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.

Then on June 23, Iran retaliated by bombing the US' military base in Qatar—a move that prompted its neighboring countries to temporarily shut their airspaces.

Fluss said Israel was supportive when it gave one more chance to diplomatic efforts as the US conducted negotiations.

But there were no results, he said.