Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the US-Israel military campaign against Iran had “accomplished a great deal,” but argued the conflict cannot truly be considered over until Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium is removed from the country.
In an interview broadcast Sunday night — his first appearance on a major American network since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began on Feb. 28 — Netanyahu declined to discuss when such an operation might take place or who would carry it out.
“You’re gonna ask me these questions. I’m gonna dodge them,” he told CBS “60 Minutes” correspondent Major Garrett.
“I’m not going to talk about military means,” Netanyahu said, adding that President Trump had told him, “I want to go in there,” and that he believes removing the uranium “can be done physically.”
“That’s not the problem,” the 76-year-old said. “If you have an agreement, and you go in and take it out, why not? That’s the best way.”
NewYorkPost reports: The interview aired hours after Trump publicly rebuked Iran’s response to a 14-point peace framework offered by the US, writing on social media that it was “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.”
Tehran’s proposal made no mention of curbing its atomic ambitions, according to the official IRNA news agency, instead focusing on fully reopening the vital Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping before moving on to other contentious topics.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations nuclear watchdog, has said Iran has more than 970 pounds of uranium enriched to 60% purity, a short technical step from weapons grade.
The majority of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is likely at its Isfahan nuclear complex about 275 miles south of Tehran, IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi told the Associated Press last month. The facility was hit by US-Israeli airstrikes during the 12-day war last year and faced less intense attacks this year.
Elsewhere in the interview, Netanyahu denied a report by the New York Times that he insisted to Trump before the war began that the US and Israel could succeed in overthrowing the theocratic regime that has run Iran since 1979.
“We both agreed, you know, that there was both uncertainty and risk involved,” the PM said. “And I remember that we — I said, and he said — that the danger, there’s danger in action, in taking action. But there’s greater danger in not taking action.”
Asked by Garrett if he believed it is “possible” to effect regime change in Iran, Netanyahu said: “I think that you can’t predict when that happen. Is it possible? Yes. Is it guaranteed? No.”
Looking forward, Netanyahu claimed that he wanted to wean Israel off American military aid, which currently stands at $3.8 billion per year.