At the annual Munich Security Conference, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was ready, putative piece of a drone in hand, to talk about the need for region-wide military action against the “Iranian empire.”

Netanyahu claimed the part was from a drone which crossed into Israeli airspace, and was Iranian, and was shot down. Israel responded by attacking Syria, getting one of its warplanes shot down, and then attacking Syria some more.

Israeli officials were keen not to even mention Syria during this attack, however, presenting everything that happened as having been done against Iran. Netanyahu played up the idea that Israel must be prepared to destroy not just Iran’s allies, but Iran itself.

Threatening to attack Iran is hardly a new feature in Israeli politics, and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif mocked the statement, saying it was a “cartoonish circus” for Israel to make such threats, when they treat the loss of a single warplane like such a disaster.

Zarif faulted Israel for treating aggression like a standard policy, noting how often Israeli warplanes violate the airspace of Lebanon and Syria.