In a rhetorically charged press conference on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned the tables on reporters questioning American involvement in the Iran war, asking sarcastically whether anyone truly believed Israel could direct Donald Trump’s actions. He denied that Israel had dragged the US into the conflict, calling such claims fake news, while also announcing that Iran had lost all capability to enrich uranium and build ballistic missiles after twenty days of fighting. Netanyahu described the war’s trajectory as overwhelmingly favorable to Israel.
Netanyahu spoke with evident pride when describing the Trump-Israel alliance. He called their coordination historically unmatched and said Trump had entered the conflict with a fully formed and sophisticated understanding of the Iranian nuclear threat. Netanyahu said Trump had in fact explained aspects of the threat to him, not the other way around, framing their partnership as one of genuine strategic equality.
The Israeli prime minister confirmed that Israel unilaterally struck the South Pars gas compound at Asaluyeh. He disclosed Trump’s request to pause further strikes on Iran’s gas infrastructure, treating it as evidence of healthy communication between two close allies. Netanyahu underscored that Israel retained full autonomous authority over its military actions.
Dismissing Iran’s Hormuz threats, Netanyahu called them blackmail that would achieve nothing. He proposed alternative pipeline routes across the Arabian Peninsula to Israeli and Mediterranean ports, framing the infrastructure as a permanent solution to the Hormuz vulnerability. Netanyahu tied this vision to a broader post-conflict regional agenda.
The prime minister closed by noting the fragmentation of Iran’s new leadership, highlighting that the new supreme leader had not appeared publicly since fighting began. He said he was not sure who was actually governing Iran and pointed to fierce competition for power within the country’s ruling hierarchy. Netanyahu said these internal pressures, combined with military setbacks, made him believe the war’s end was approaching faster than the world realized.