NEW YORK, June 29. /TASS/. Israel is not giving the Iron Dome air defense system or other weapons to the Kiev regime because of its concerns that they might end up in Iran’s possession, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal published on Thursday.

"I think, it’s important to understand that we are concerned also with the possibility that systems that we would give to Ukraine would fall into Iranian hands," he said.

Netanyahu pointed out that if that happens, Tehran would be able to use Israeli weapons against Israel. He noted that Israel is a densely populated country and so far, it has been avoiding major casualties because the Iron Dome system was shooting down 95% of the missiles targeting Israel’s population centers. "Now, if that system would fall in the hands of Iran, then millions of Israelis would be left defenseless and in peril," he added.

Iron Dome is an air defense system developed by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in partnership with US arms manufacturer Raytheon. It is considered to be one of the most effective systems against short-range rockets. In early June 2022, Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Evgeny Korniychuk said that Ukraine was interested in obtaining the Iron Dome system.