‘Peace through strength’, Trump’s leadership created pivot of history: Netanyahu
_vb_50.jpeg)
Jerusalem (PTI): Applauding US President Donald Trump’s “bold decision” to hit Iran’s nuclear facilities, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that it demonstrated “peace through strength” and will lead to a future of peace and prosperity in the region and beyond.
The US struck three sites in Iran early Sunday with an aim to destroy the country's nuclear programme. The sites attacked were Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan.
“Your (Trump’s) bold decision to target Iran’s nuclear facilities with the awesome and righteous might of the United States will change history," Netanyahu said.
“In Operation Rising Lion, Israel has done truly amazing things. But in tonight’s action against Iran’s nuclear facilities, America has been truly unsurpassed. It has done what no other country on earth could do," the Israeli Prime Minister said.
Israel launched Operation Rising Lion on June 13, targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile production and storage facilities to get rid of both. It has for years been calling Iran’s nuclear programme an existential threat and has vowed to foil its nuclear ambition at any cost.
Iran has maintained that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.
The Israeli leader asserted that history would remember Trump for denying ‘the world’s most dangerous regime the world’s most dangerous weapons’.
“His leadership today has created a pivot of history that can help lead the Middle East and beyond to a future of prosperity and peace," Netanyahu stressed.
“President Trump and I often say: Peace through strength. First comes strength, then comes peace”, the Israeli Premier asserted.
And tonight, President Trump and the United States acted with a lot of strength, he said.
Israel had been saying that it would destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities on its own, if required, but was urging the United States to support through its capabilities for a “swift end to it”.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
