Netanyahu warns Iran may try to disrupt election, says ‘don’t test us’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran and its allies might try to disrupt Tuesday’s Israeli elections, warning the Islamic republic against any hostile acts.

The premier has campaigned heavily on his security credentials, touting the war he launched against Iran in February alongside the United States and suggesting that he alone can see it through.

“We have intelligence signs that our enemies, Iran and its proxies, could challenge us with attacks in order to disrupt the elections,” Netanyahu said in a video released by his office on Sunday.

“Don’t test us. You will suffer disproportionate blows,” he added, noting the military was ready for both defensive and offensive operations.

Earlier in the day, the premier posted an AI-generated image of a mushroom cloud engulfing Tel Aviv, alongside text attributed to a right-wing political commentator calling Iran an existential threat and arguing that all the other issues discussed this election season were trivial in comparison.

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has focused heavily on hawkish national security statements in the final days of the campaign.

On Wednesday, he said he had sent a directive to Israel’s security forces to topple Iran’s clerical state. A day earlier, he posted a video of himself in front of a fighter jet speaking to US President Donald Trump by phone saying they would “finish the job” together.

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Trump, meanwhile, said it is “getting to be decision time” on whether he will make a deal with Tehran or resume attacks as Iranian and Houthi threats against Americans in the Middle East continue to grow.

“I have a decision to make: Do I finish it off, which would be very easy to do, or do I make a deal? That’s all,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures. “We don’t play games.”

Trump has suggested that US strikes on Iran could resume after the November 3 midterm elections and he has sent additional forces, including a third aircraft carrier group, towards the Persian Gulf.

Officials warn the period between the election and the new Congress taking office could be particularly dangerous, with a negotiated deal seen as the most likely way to end the conflict.

The US is reducing diplomatic and military staffing in parts of the Middle East amid growing threats from Iran and the Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen.

The State Department had initially acknowledged departures only from Saudi Arabia but an American official told Bloomberg News on Friday that staffing changes are taking place more broadly as Iran intensifies attacks on ships near the Strait of Hormuz.