Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters Friday that Israel was winning the war with Iran and that Iran itself knew it, pointing to the destruction of Tehran’s uranium enrichment and missile production capabilities as evidence. He rejected claims about Israel having pushed the United States into the conflict. Netanyahu predicted with confidence that the war would end faster than most people currently expected, citing both military progress and Iran’s internal political turmoil.
The prime minister addressed the nature of the US-Israel relationship with clarity and directness. He called their coordination historically unprecedented and framed Trump as the alliance’s leader. Netanyahu revealed that Trump had independently formed and articulated his own deep understanding of Iran’s nuclear threat in their conversations, enriching their shared strategic thinking.
Netanyahu confirmed Israel struck the South Pars gas compound alone and disclosed Trump’s request to hold off on further strikes on Iranian gas infrastructure. He presented both facts with transparency, framing them as natural features of a close and functioning alliance. Netanyahu was consistent in maintaining that Israel’s military autonomy remained uncompromised.
On Iran’s Hormuz threats, Netanyahu was dismissive. He called them blackmail and proposed pipeline routes from the Arabian Peninsula to Israeli and Mediterranean ports as a lasting structural solution. Netanyahu argued this would permanently eliminate Hormuz as a strategic weapon in Iran’s arsenal.
Netanyahu ended with analysis of Iran’s leadership dysfunction. He said Mojtaba had not been seen publicly during the conflict and admitted he was unsure who was running the country. Netanyahu observed visible competition for power in Tehran and concluded that this instability, combined with military losses, was driving the war toward an end sooner than most anticipated.
