Article content

In an admission he said could only be published after his death, former Israeli president Shimon Peres reportedly said in 2014 that he personally stopped Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from attacking Iran.

“I stopped Netanyahu from attacking Iran,” Peres was reported as telling Steve Linde, then-editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, during an Aug. 24, 2014 conversation in Jaffa.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or 'I stopped Netanyahu from attacking Iran': Extraordinary claim Shimon Peres wanted published after his death Back to video

When pressed for details, Peres reportedly responded, “I don’t want to go into details, but I can tell you that he was ready to launch an attack and I stopped him. I told him the consequences would be catastrophic.”

He then asked, with a “wry smile,” that the comments be kept secret until after his death. Published Friday, the comments are based on Linde’s notes from the meeting.

Peres held the largely ceremonial role of Israeli president between 2007 and July 2014, a period of particularly high Iran-Israeli tensions.