Iran can't enrich uranium, Netanyahu denies dragging US into conflict

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that Iran no longer has the capability to enrich uranium or produce ballistic missiles. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday evening in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said, "(Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei ordered the renewal of missile and nuclear programmes and to bury them deep underground. We are acting not only to destroy the remaining missiles, a few remain, but to destroy the industries that enable the production of these programmes."Now, after 20 days, I can announce to you that Iran has no ability to enrich uranium and has no ability to produce ballistic missiles," Netanyahu said in Hebrew in his opening remarks. “What we’re destroying now are the factories that produce the components to make these missiles and to make the nuclear weapons that they’re trying to produce,” he said. He added that Iran’s missile and drone arsenal is being “massively degraded” and would be destroyed.

VIDEO | Addressing press conference amid death rumours during Iran war, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) says, "First of all, I just want to say, I'm alive and you're all witnesses. And now that I dispatched this piece of fake news, I want to give you an… pic.twitter.com/KEZqWP3cTp

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) March 19, 2026

Netanyahu also denied what he called "fake news" that Israel had dragged US President Donald Trump into war with Iran. "Does anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do?" Israeli president also clarified that the country acted “alone” in striking Iran's massive South Pars gas field. "Israel acted alone against the Asaluyeh gas compound," he said. He said that “In [Operation] Rising Lion [in June], we destroyed missiles and we destroyed a lot of the nuclear infrastructure. But what we’re destroying now are the factories that produce the components to make these missiles and to make the nuclear weapons that they’re trying to produce.”
Talking about Iran's threats of closing the Strait of Hormuz, Netanyahu said that "It won't work." He said that while Iran is trying to “blackmail the world by closing a key international maritime route,” it won't work.Netanyahu also stressed on the need to have alternative routes to avoid chokepoints in the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea. He envisioned oil and gas pipelines going West through the Arabian Peninsula, “right up to Israel and Mediterranean ports.”