Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Thursday that easing economic pressure on Iran would directly strengthen the Islamic Republic’s terrorist network, declaring that “every dollar” reaching Tehran ultimately funds terror across the Middle East.

Katz delivered the remarks at the opening of the Defense Ministry’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing conference, attended by senior officials from Israel’s intelligence and defense establishments.

“For decades, the regime in Tehran has built a regional terror machine based on the continuous flow of resources to its proxies across the Middle East,” Katz said. “Instead of investing the country’s resources in improving the lives of Iran’s citizens, developing the economy, infrastructure, education, and healthcare, the Iranian regime chose to invest in terrorism.”

He added, “Every dollar that enters the Ayatollahs’ treasury is a dollar that becomes a ballistic missile in Iran, a drone in Lebanon, a rocket in Gaza, or a UAV in Yemen. Every dollar that reaches Iran is a dollar that may find its way to Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and the rest of its terrorist proxies.”

Katz said the economic campaign against Iran is one of Israel’s most critical security fronts and called for increased financial pressure on the regime.

“We must not be satisfied with what we have achieved so far and must intensify the financial pressure on every front,” he said.

The defense minister also outlined an ambitious vision for Israel’s future military capabilities in space, calling it the country’s greatest strategic force multiplier.

Katz said he has instructed the IDF to develop unprecedented offensive space capabilities that would allow Israel not only to defend its assets in orbit but also to carry out operations from space, including disrupting enemy systems and eventually conducting kinetic strikes.

“We are now recruiting the best minds,” Katz said. “Today, no country possesses the capability to strike from space, and we must become the world’s leading nation in this field. If we achieve that, it will ensure us an enormous advantage in deterrence, offensive capabilities, and confronting enemies with far greater resources.”

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