Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the US, says Israel will continue its campaign against Iran after what he describes as two Iranian missile attacks on the Israeli cities of Dimona and Arad.

Speaking to CNN, Leiter says the response will be to press on “until we bring this regime to its knees”. He says Israel cannot accept living alongside a country which, in his words, is “malign”, declares its intent to destroy Israel and is now launching ballistic missiles at neighbouring states.

Asked how the latest attacks square with earlier claims by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Iran’s missile capabilities had been destroyed, Leiter rejects the premise and accuses Tehran of deception.

“The Iranians lie,” he tells CNN, calling them “murderers who lie”. He also claims Iran had said it did not possess intercontinental ballistic missiles, adding that the latest events, in his view, show that it does.