🚨 Netanyahu Defends Israel’s Actions Against Iran, Warns of Ongoing Threats in Press Conference
In a press conference held Monday at his office in Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the outcomes of Israel’s military operations against Iran, defended the country’s wartime achievements since October 7, and expressed strong reservations about an emerging U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding.
Netanyahu opened by declaring that Iran would not obtain a nuclear weapon, regardless of any agreement. “With an agreement, without an agreement, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. Not today and not tomorrow. As long as I am prime minister of Israel, it will not happen,” he stated.
He emphasized the existential stakes of the conflict, asserting that Israel’s strikes had averted catastrophe. “I hear people asking, ‘What did we achieve?’ We removed from ourselves the danger of immediate annihilation, together with our friends,” Netanyahu said. “We carried out the largest attack sortie. We thwarted the nuclear scientists, decapitated the leaders of the terror regime, crushed the nuclear facilities, destroyed missiles and the vast majority of the factories.”
The Prime Minister highlighted Operation Rising Lion as a pivotal success. “Iran was racing toward a nuclear weapon right before Operation Rising Lion,” he explained. “If we had not acted, all of you would have been in danger of mass death. All of us were in that danger, and we pushed away from ourselves, for years, the danger of the elimination of Israel’s population.”
Netanyahu said that, according to some estimates, about one trillion dollars of damage was done to Iran’s economy.
Netanyahu stressed that the fight was far from over. “We will have to continue standing guard, to be strong and determined to defend ourselves, as much as needed,” he said. He pointed to Israel’s actions against Iran’s terror proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, and elsewhere as unprecedented, noting the establishment of deep security zones in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria that Israel would maintain “as long as needed to defend our country.”
Reflecting on post-October 7 strategy, Netanyahu described a fundamental shift in Israel’s military doctrine. “After October 7, I set a simple principle: Israel will not allow terror organizations to prepare for a massacre near our citizens,” he said. “Today, the heroic IDF soldiers stand between the terrorists and our citizens. We changed our entire security doctrine, we broke through the barrier of fear.”
He rejected criticism that sought to downplay Israel’s gains and outlined future objectives, including building new regional and international alliances and ensuring weapons independence.
Addressing relations with the United States, Netanyahu acknowledged differences with President Donald Trump but affirmed his commitment to Israel’s interests. “There are cases where we see eye to eye, and there are cases where less so,” he noted. “I stand up for Israel’s interests, not with bluster.”
Netanyahu reiterated four key demands Israel had conveyed regarding any U.S.-Iran outcome: removal of Iran’s enriched nuclear material, dismantling of enrichment infrastructure, restrictions on missile production, and an end to support for terror proxies. He made clear that Israel was “not a party to the memorandum of understanding,” which he viewed as falling short of these requirements.
Throughout the briefing, Netanyahu portrayed Israel’s actions as having fundamentally altered the security landscape, saving the country from nuclear annihilation while positioning it to face remaining threats with strength and resolve.
Netanyahu also said that he plans to run in the upcoming election.
