The decision by the United States to exit the 2015 nuclear ‎deal with Iran and the subsequent decision by ‎several large conglomerates to nix contracts with ‎the Islamic republic has the ayatollahs’ ‎regime in a panic, Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor ‎Lieberman said on Tuesday.‎

Lieberman, who was speaking at a conference hosted ‎by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in ‎Israel in the southern resort city of Eilat, was ‎commenting on Iran’s announcement that it would ‎resume uranium enrichment.‎

‎“There are clear signs of mass hysteria and panic ‎among the Iranian leadership, especially after ‎Peugeot announced it would be leaving Iran,” ‎ ‎said Lieberman. ‎

He was referring to a statement issued Monday by ‎French auto giant PSA, which makes Peugeot and ‎Citroen cars, saying it would pull out of two joint ‎ventures to sell its cars in Iran to avoid the risk ‎of U.S. sanctions.‎

‎Iran’s leaders, Lieberman explained, “fear that all ‎‎[foreign] investors will leave the country. They are ‎afraid of civil unrest. There haven’t been ‎strikes in Iran since the time of [Supreme Leader ‎Ayatollah Ruhollah] Khomeini. Now there is economic unrest and ‎rapid deterioration, which scares them.‎

‎“Iran is not an Israeli problem; it’s a regional ‎and global problem,” he continued. “If the Iranians ‎withdraw from the agreement, the Europeans will have ‎no leeway. Iran is walking a fine line, trying to ‎blackmail and threaten [the European Union].” ‎

Commenting on the presence of Iranian and Hezbollah ‎forces in Syria, Lieberman said: “We want both Iran ‎and Hezbollah to leave. We will foil any attempt we ‎identify to approach the fence with game-changing ‎weapons.

“We won’t allow anyone to form a military ‎front against us on the Golan Heights, regardless of whether ‎it’s 40 or 80 kilometers from the border.‎ All options against Iran are on the table,” he ‎stressed.‎

Commenting ‎on the threat posed by Hamas’s grid of ‎terror tunnels, Lieberman said, “Our goal is that in ‎‎2019, six months from now, there will be no cross-border tunnels.” ‎

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