Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu issued a stark warning to Iran on Tuesday evening, stressing that its nuclear program and proxies in the Middle East “must be eliminated.”

Mr. Netanyahu’s warning was a response to a post made by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, titled: “Why must the Zionist regime be eliminated from the region.”

“So here you have the ruler of Iran openly declaring — again — that his goal is to destroy the State of Israel. And the most brazen thing about this is that he issues this while he’s negotiating — supposedly — peace with the United States,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a video message on social media. 

The prime minister fired back at Mr. Khamenei, saying that what must be eliminated “is Iran’s axis of terror and its nuclear weapons program, not only for the sake of Israel, but for the sake of our entire region and for the sake of peace in our world.”

Mr. Khamenei also took to X to ramp up his threats against Israel, saying “the Zionists should be awaiting the lashes of God’s punishment,” while calling on the Islamic world to take “coordinated action” against Israel. 

The public spat between the two regional leaders comes ahead of a second round of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran over the latter’s nuclear program. 

Both the U.S. and Iran said that the negotiations in Oman on Saturday were positive but Tehran later clarified that it won’t compromise on the country’s support for terror groups in the Middle East as well as its military capabilities, calling both a “red line.”

“We’re neither overly optimistic nor overly pessimistic about the Oman talks. The actions taken in the initial steps of the Oman talks were good. And from hereon, this must be pursued carefully. The red lines are clear. They’re clear for the other side, and they’re clear for us too,” Mr Khamenei said. 

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff meanwhile appeared to walk back his comments earlier this week where he suggested that Washington would be satisfied with a limitation on Iran’s nuclear program rather than a full dismantling. 

In an interview on Fox News on Monday, Mr. Witkoff said that Iran won’t need to enrich uranium past 3.67 percent if it wants to run a civil nuclear program. 

The conversation with the Iranians are going to be “much about verification on the enrichment program and then ultimately verification on weaponization — that includes the type of missiles they have stockpiled there and the trigger for a bomb,” Mr. Witkoff said, sparking debate about the U.S. position. 

On Tuesday, Mr Witkoff issued a statement on X, saying: “A deal with Iran will only be completed if it is a Trump deal. Any final arrangement must set a framework for peace, stability, and prosperity in the Middle East — meaning that Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program.”

The next round of nuclear talks will take place at Rome on Saturday.