Iranian foreign minister: Israel's 'myth of invincibility' has crumbled

Zarif described Netanyahu's speech at the Munich Security Conference as a "cartoonish circus."

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif  (photo credit: REUTERS)
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
(photo credit: REUTERS)
MUNICH - Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday the shooting down of an Israeli jet after bombing an Iranian site in Syria had shattered Israel's "so-called invincibility", reacting to a critical speech delivered earlier by Israel's premier.
"Israel uses aggression as a policy against its neighbours," Zarif told the Munich Security Conference, accusing Israel of "mass reprisals against its neighbours and daily incursions into Syria, Lebanon."
"Once the Syrians have the guts to down one of its planes it's as if a disaster has happened," Zarif said.
He was responding to Benjamin Netanyahu's address to the conference hours before, in which the Israeli prime minister, holding a piece of what he said was an Iranian drone, accused Iran of trying to impose an "empire" across the Middle East.
Zarif described Netanyahu's address to the conference as a "cartoonish circus."
"The entire speech was trying to evade the issue... What has happened in the past several days is the so-called invincibility [of Israel] has crumbled," he said of the February 10 downing of an Israeli jet.
Zarif also described Netanyahu's speech as a "cartoonish circus" after he presented a piece of an Iranian drone shot down over Israel on the day that the Israeli jet was targeted.
The Iranian foreign minister also hinted at Netanyahu's current legal troubles, saying "Israel's major problems are its years-long criminal occupation policies, and I'm not even talking about its corruption."