Israel very close to reaching goals in Iran, says Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel is very close to achieving its goals in Iran. He promised not to let Israel be dragged into a “war of attrition” with the Islamic Republic, but stressed that this did not mean he would be prepared to end the campaign before all its objectives had been met. The prime minister was speaking to reporters in a pre-recorded press conference on Sunday evening, following the US strikes on Iran’s key nuclear facilities the night before.He said that the US had inflicted “very serious damage” on Iran’s hard-to-reach Fordo nuclear site, but declined to go into detail about the extent of the damage.
Regarding the timing of Israel’s campaign against Iran’s nuclear facilities, Netanyahu said Israel “had to act” because Tehran was rushing toward nuclear weaponization after the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in September 2024. Netanyahu also cited Iran’s plans to build 300 ballistic missiles per month as a deciding factor in launching the campaign at this time. He said more than half the ballistic missile launchers in the Islamic Republic had been taken out in the past 10 days.Turning to Gaza, where Israel’s war against Hamas is now in its 20th month with no end in sight, Netanyahu insisted that the attacks in Iran would help Israel achieve its goals in the Strip. “Without the Iranian scaffolding, it all collapses,” he asserted. He claimed that the war there “could end tomorrow.” “It could end today if Hamas surrenders, lays down all its arms, releases all the hostages. It’s over in a moment,” he said. “We think we can give Gaza a different future.”