Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said recent joint strikes by Israel and the United States against Iran were urgently necessary to prevent Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs from becoming beyond the reach of military action within months.
In an interview with Fox News, Netanyahu said Iran had accelerated efforts to fortify its strategic weapons infrastructure after earlier attacks on its facilities, including by constructing new underground sites and bunkers.
“The reason that we had to act now is because after we hit their nuclear sites and their ballistic missile program … they started building new sites … underground bunkers that would make their ballistic missile program and their atomic bomb program immune within months,” Netanyahu said.
“If no action was taken now, no action could be taken in the future,” he added in a clip aired by the network.
Netanyahu said intelligence assessments indicated that delaying action would have allowed Iran to complete protective measures that would effectively shield its programs from future strikes.
He described Iran’s leadership as ideologically committed to hostile objectives and said the joint U.S.-Israeli action was intended to disrupt its weapons development before it became untouchable.
Netanyahu also told Fox News that the military campaign would not become open-ended.
“We are not going to have an endless war,” he said, adding that the operation would be “a quick and decisive action.”
“Peace between Saudi Arabia and Israel would be possible due to action against Iran,” Netanyahu said. “The U.S. and Israel together are creating the conditions for them to do.”
