Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a blunt verdict on Friday, stating that Israeli military strikes over twenty days had effectively decimated Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure, leaving the country without the capacity to enrich uranium or produce ballistic missiles. He denied that Israel had engineered US involvement in the war and expressed confidence that the conflict was heading toward a rapid conclusion. Netanyahu’s press conference was one of his most comprehensive and detailed since hostilities began.
On the US-Israel relationship, Netanyahu described the partnership with Trump as historically close and mutually aligned. He pushed back strongly against the idea that Israel had guided Trump into the conflict, noting that Trump was a deeply independent leader who held his own fully formed views on the Iranian nuclear threat. Netanyahu revealed that Trump had actually briefed him on aspects of the threat rather than receiving a one-sided Israeli presentation.
Netanyahu confirmed Israel’s unilateral strike on the South Pars gas complex and disclosed Trump’s request to hold off on further attacks on Iranian gas infrastructure. He handled both facts with transparency, presenting them as evidence of a close and communicative alliance. Netanyahu maintained throughout that Israel’s military decision-making remained subject to no external authority.
On the Hormuz question, Netanyahu called Iran’s closure threats blackmail that would fail. He proposed pipeline routes from the Arabian Peninsula to Israeli and Mediterranean ports as a permanent structural alternative. Netanyahu argued this infrastructure would neutralize Iran’s ability to use maritime chokepoints as a geopolitical weapon.
Netanyahu closed with analysis of Iran’s leadership vacuum, noting the new supreme leader’s continued absence from public view. He admitted genuine uncertainty about who was governing Iran and pointed to visible power struggles among Tehran’s ruling factions. Netanyahu concluded that these internal pressures, combined with military losses, were compressing the timeline toward the war’s conclusion.