Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Friday that Israel acted alone in striking Iran’s South Pars gas compound, while also declaring that Iran had lost all capability to enrich uranium and manufacture ballistic missiles after twenty days of conflict. He denied that Israel had dragged the United States into the war and expressed optimism that the conflict was approaching a swift resolution. Netanyahu’s press conference was direct, confident, and forward-looking.
The prime minister addressed the Trump-Israel dynamic with directness, rejecting the narrative of Israeli pressure on Washington. He described Trump as an independently minded and deeply informed leader who had come to his own conclusions about the Iranian nuclear threat. Netanyahu revealed that Trump had explained aspects of that threat to him rather than simply receiving briefings, underscoring the depth and reciprocity of their partnership.
Confirming that Israel struck South Pars unilaterally, Netanyahu also acknowledged Trump’s request to pause further strikes on Iranian gas facilities. He treated this communication as a healthy feature of close allied coordination. Netanyahu maintained consistently that Israel’s operational autonomy remained fully intact despite its close partnership with the United States.
Iran’s Hormuz closure threats were dismissed by Netanyahu as blackmail that would not work. He proposed overland pipeline routes from the Arabian Peninsula to Israeli and Mediterranean ports as a permanent alternative to the strait. Netanyahu argued this infrastructure would eliminate Hormuz as a strategic weapon in Iran’s arsenal for future confrontations.
Netanyahu ended by highlighting Iran’s leadership disarray, noting that the expected new supreme leader had not appeared publicly during the conflict. He admitted uncertainty about who was governing Iran and observed visible competition among those vying for control. These internal fractures, combined with military losses, led Netanyahu to predict the war would conclude sooner than most people expected.