Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel does not know the terms of the US-Iran nuclear deal during a press conference on Monday evening, following Sunday’s announcement that the United States and Iran reached a ceasefire agreement.
“With or without an agreement, Iran will never have nuclear weapons,” said Netanyahu. “Not today and not tomorrow.”
“We have removed the threat of immediate annihilation,” he said. “You [Israelis] were all in terrible danger of death.”
“Together with our American friends, we embarked on the largest strike mission in the history of Israel,” he continued. “We have thwarted the nuclear scientists, beheaded the leaders of the terrorist regime, crushed the nuclear factories, destroyed missiles and most of the factories that produce missiles, hit countless industries and military infrastructure, destroyed their navy, their air force, and thwarted the Basij commanders.”
“We caused enormous damage,” he added. “We estimate it at hundreds of billions of dollars, and some estimate it even close to a trillion dollars – enormous damage to the Iranian economy that took them decades to build.”
Netanyahu added that he and US President Donald Trump don’t always “see eye to eye” at times, saying that “Israel’s security interests need to be defended wisely.”
“We will stay in the Lebanon security buffer zone for as long as necessary,” he continued.
Netanyahu: The struggle is not over
Netanyahu warned that “the struggle is not over,” saying that Israel must “continue to stand guard, continue to be strong and determined to defend ourselves as much as necessary.”
“We did it in Gaza, we did it in Lebanon, in Syria, in Yemen, we did it in the refugee camps in Judea and Samaria, we did it everywhere,” Netanyahu continued.
He said that Israel had successfully killed nearly every terrorist who participated in the October 7 massacre, noting that he thinks there is “one more left.”
“He will also be eliminated,” said Netanyahu. “Israel will not allow terrorist organizations to camp on our borders.”
He noted that the defense budget will be increased by NIS 350 billion to achieve “weapons independence.”
“We will develop technologies that break the boundaries of imagination, and we will make Israel an even stronger power,” said Netanyahu. “Because our strength is the key to our future, it is the key to our security, it is the key to our economy, it is the key to our alliances.”
During the question and answer session following his speech, Netanyahu said that Israel is at the forefront of developing a solution to the threat of first-person view drones.
When responding to a question about whether he was right to launch Operation Roaring Lion on February 28, Netanyahu denied that one of the objectives was to overthrow Iran’s Islamic regime.
Netanyahu also said he is planning to run again in the upcoming elections, adding that he is “going to win.”
Eisenkot responds to Netanyahu comments
Yashar Party leader Gadi Eisenkot, a leading rival candidate against Netanyahu in the upcoming elections, sharply criticized the prime minister’s remarks, stating that Israel had failed to achieve its military objectives.
He said it was “a very unfortunate statement by the prime minister of Israel, especially given the failure to achieve the war’s objectives after nearly three years.”
Eisenkot noted that it would have been better if Netanyahu had admitted he was wrong and that he had set false objectives he was not prepared to achieve.
“That would have given Netanyahu much more credit and respect from the public if he had admitted that he made empty declarations and conducted perception-driven operations,” Eisenkot added.
“Instead, we heard the same statements once again, more illusions, denial of the goals he previously declared, and above all, zero real answers to a public that has endured the most difficult years in its history,” he said.
Eisenkot also warned that Iran would “continue to be a bitter enemy, and we will continue to act against it and thwart its operations.”
Idan Kweller contributed to this report.
