In a video statement on Tuesday summing up the war against Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel “achieved a historic victory” that would “abide for generations” following the US-brokered ceasefire to end the 12-day conflict.
He said Israel removed “two existential threats — the threat of destruction via nuclear weapons and the threat of destruction via 20,000 ballistic missiles” that Iran was moving to build. Israel would have faced destruction in the near future “if we hadn’t acted now.”
US President Donald Trump acted “in an unprecedented fashion,” the prime minister said, thanking him for “his part in defending Israel, and removing the Iranian nuclear threat.”
Netanyahu said the historic development — a US strike on Iran in support of Israel — was “the fruit of a diplomatic campaign I led with [Strategic Affairs] Minister Ron Dermer,” and praised the American forces who “destroyed” the underground Fordo enrichment site.
“Israel has never had a friend like President Trump in the White House, and I thank him greatly for our joint work,” said Netanyahu, hours after a livid Trump blasted Israel for striking Iran both after the impending ceasefire was announced and for responding to Iranian missile attacks after the truce took effect.
Yet, in his video statement, Netanyahu lauded Israel’s attack on Iran early Tuesday morning before the ceasefire took force — the same massive strike Trump raged about in front of the cameras.
The prime minister also said Israel destroyed Iran’s ballistic missile production program and landed “the most severe blow in [the regime’s] history.”
“We sent Iran’s nuclear program down the drain,” Netanyahu stated. “If someone in Iran tries to restore that program, we will act with the same determination, the same power, to cut off any such attempt.”
“I repeat: Iran will not have a nuclear weapon,” he vowed, adding that — with Iran’s axis in tatters — Israel will open an “axis of prosperity and peace of the nations of the region” and beyond.
He briefly mentioned Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, and said: “We must defeat Hamas and bring back the hostages.”
