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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in an interview broadcast Sunday night that the US-Israel conflict with Iran has achieved significant progress. However, he emphasized that the situation cannot be deemed resolved until Iran’s enriched uranium is removed from its soil.
During his first interview with an American network since the US and Israel initiated attacks on Iran on February 28, Netanyahu refrained from specifying the timing or responsible parties for this operation. Speaking to Major Garrett on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” he remarked, “You’re going to ask me these questions. I’m going to dodge them.”
Netanyahu, age 76, avoided discussing military strategies but mentioned a conversation with President Trump, saying, “The President has told me, ‘I want to go in there,’ and I believe it can be done physically. That’s not the issue. If there’s an agreement, and you go in to remove it, why not? That’s the best approach.”
The interview was broadcast shortly after President Trump criticized Iran’s reaction to a 14-point peace proposal from the US, declaring on social media that the response was “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.”
The proposal from Tehran, as reported by the official IRNA news agency, did not address limiting its nuclear aspirations. Instead, it focused on the complete reopening of the strategic Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping, before tackling other contentious issues.
The interview aired hours after Trump publicly rebuked Iran’s response to a 14-point peace framework offered by the US, writing on social media that it was “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.”
Tehran’s proposal made no mention of curbing its atomic ambitions, according to the official IRNA news agency, instead focusing on fully reopening the vital Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping before moving on to other contentious topics.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations nuclear watchdog, has said Iran has more than 970 pounds of uranium enriched up to 60% purity, a short technical step from weapons grade.
The majority of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is likely at its Isfahan nuclear complex about 275 miles south of Tehran, IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi told The Associated Press last month. The facility was hit by US-Israeli airstrikes during the 12-day war last year and faced less intense attacks this year.
Elsewhere in the interview, Netanyahu denied a report by the New York Times that he insisted to Trump before the war began that the US and Israel could succeed in overthrowing the theocratic regime that has run Iran since 1979.
“We both agreed, you know, that there was both uncertainty and risk involved,” the PM said. “And I remember that we — I said, and he said — that the danger, there’s danger in action, in taking action. But there’s greater danger in not taking action.”
Asked by Garrett if he believed it is “possible” to effect regime change in Iran, Netanyahu said: “I think that you can’t predict when that happen. Is it possible? Yes. Is it guaranteed? No.”
Looking forward, Netanyahu claimed that he wanted to wean Israel off American military aid, which currently stands at $3.8 billion per year.
“I want to draw down to zero the American financial support, the financial component of the military cooperation that we have,” he said. “Because we receive– we receive $3.8 billion a year. And I– I think that it’s time that we weaned ourselves from the remaining– military support.
“I said, ‘Let’s start now and do it over the next decade, over the next ten years, but I want to start now. I don’t want to wait for the next Congress. I want to start now.’”
With Post wires