Israel 'ready' to resume Iran war, says Defense Minister Katz

TEL AVIV, Israel - Israel is "ready to resume the war against Iran," Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday.

The Israeli government is waiting for the green light from the U.S., he said according to a statement from his office.

The targets have already been identified, he said, with the aim of crushing the "Khamenei dynasty" and destroying key energy and power facilities as well as economic infrastructure.

Katz also spoke of sending Iran "back to the Stone Age," echoing comments by U.S. President Donald Trump during the war, which Israel and the United States launched on Feb. 28.

A ceasefire has been place for more than two weeks and was extended by Trump on Tuesday, although a U.S. blockade of Iranian shipping in the Strait of Hormuz remains in force.

Negotiations have failed to produce a longer-term peace deal.

The minister's allusion to a "dynasty" is a reference to the transfer of power in Iran following the assassination of former Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

His son Mojtaba was appointed as his successor on March 8, which some have viewed as a contradiction of the spirit of the 1979 revolution against the hereditary monarchy under the Shah.

However, Mojtaba Khamenei has been absent from public view since his appointment, with reports suggesting he was seriously injured in the airstrike that killed his father.

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