Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran was weeks away from completing new underground nuclear sites that would have been “immune” to attack, arguing that urgent military action was necessary because “if no action was taken now, no action could be taken in the future.”
In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Netanyahu said Tehran had begun constructing new underground facilities that would soon make its ballistic missile and atomic weapons programmes untouchable.
“They started building new sites, new places, underground bunkers, that would make their ballistic missile programmes and their atomic bomb programmes immune within months,” he said.
Netanyahu alleged that Iran had been working on new weapons sites since the so‑called 12‑day war in June, when Israel and the United States also launched coordinated strikes on the Islamic republic.
He also framed the operation as a pre-emptive move to prevent Iran from reaching that stage, insisting the conflict would not drag on.
“This is not an endless war,” he said. “This is going to be a quick and decisive action.”
He warned of the risks if Iran obtained nuclear weapons. “We are fighting terrorists who massacre their own people. Imagine what they would do if they had ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads capable of reaching American cities. Would you wait and gamble on whether they would use them? No one stopped North Korea, and now it has nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Iran is like 50 North Koreas. It is committed to America’s destruction. President Trump understands this reality.”
“If these extremists obtain weapons of mass destruction, there will be mass death,” he said, adding that leaders would later be asked why they did not act sooner.
Netanyahu also rejected suggestions that he had pushed the United States into confrontation.
“No one dragged him into anything,” Netanyahu said. “He does what he believes is right.”
The prime minister argued that coordinated US-Israeli action could create conditions for broader regional peace, including the possibility of normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“This is a gateway to peace,” he said, describing the campaign as an effort to secure long-term stability rather than prolong conflict.
US President Donald Trump’s estimates on the length of the regional war have vacillated, but his current estimate is it could go on for more than four weeks.>
