Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel reportedly said Sunday that the United States’ June bombing campaign against Iran’s nuclear facilities was never designed to wipe out Tehran’s existing stockpile of enriched uranium, but to cripple its ability to produce more and weaponize it.
Speaking on Fox News’s The Sunday Briefing with anchor Jacqui Heinrich, Netanyahu offered his most detailed explanation yet of what he has called a historic joint operation between the United States and Israel.
The strikes, which became known as Operation Midnight Hammer, targeted Iranian nuclear infrastructure in a campaign that lasted 12 days.
When Heinrich pressed him about comments he made at the United Nations calling for Iran’s nuclear stockpile to be “eliminated,” Netanyahu acknowledged that was not achieved in June.
“No, we knew that in advance,” he said. “In fact, our whole plan before and after the United States decided to join us, took into account that we wouldn’t get these 450 kilograms of enriched uranium. We knew that.”
Netanyahu explained that the strikes focused not on the stockpile itself, but on the broader apparatus required to weaponize it. “What we were targeting was the capacity to make more of those, of that enriched uranium, and also the attempt to weaponize it,” he said. “There’s the enriched core of uranium, but you have to put a weapon around it. You know, these balls that you see in all these movies? That’s the weapon around it. And then you have the missiles to carry that weapon. That’s what we struck at. And we struck hard.”
Asked whether Israel knows the location of the remaining 450 kilograms of enriched uranium, Netanyahu was blunt. “We certainly know where it is,” he said, noting that Israel and the United States share intelligence on the matter but declining to provide further details.
The prime minister’s remarks came after President Trump declared victory over Iran’s nuclear ambitions in June. On Truth Social, Trump boasted that Operation Midnight Hammer had caused “Monumental Damage” to Iranian facilities. “Obliteration is an accurate term!” he wrote, pointing to satellite images showing that the most fortified structures had been hit deep underground. “The biggest damage took place far below ground level. Bullseye!!!” Trump then castigated CNN and other outlets that questioned whether Iran’s arsenal had been fully destroyed, calling such reporting “disgraceful.”
Netanyahu, for his part, left little doubt about where his loyalties lie. He described U.S.-Israeli relations under Trump as “unparalleled in the history of our nations.” He added: “America is blessed with a very strong and independent leader.”
The exchange highlighted both the scale of the June mission and the unusually close personal and strategic ties between Trump and Netanyahu. While the Israeli leader conceded that some uranium remains, his emphasis on the destruction of Iran’s ability to expand or weaponize its program echoed Trump’s triumphant framing.
For conservatives, the interview underscored two realities: the Iranian threat remains, but the alliance between Washington and Jerusalem — strengthened under Trump — has delivered a serious blow to Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
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