Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Monday for his country's forces to remain in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria "for as long as necessary," hours after a deal was announced between Iran and the U.S. to end the Middle East war.
In his first public comments on the memorandum of understanding reached between the U.S. and Iran, Netanyahu said Israel will continue to keep troops in what he called a "security zone" as long as necessary.
"We have established strengthened security zones around Israel. We did this in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, and we will remain in these security zones as long as necessary to protect our country," he told a press conference.
"Regarding Lebanon, we established a buffer zone, a security zone, and we will remain there for as long as necessary," he added.
Netanyahu claimed that Iran had sought an Israeli withdrawal from those areas, but "that did not happen," adding that he believed "our American friends respect that."
