Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel has achieved “historic accomplishments” in its campaign against Iran, declaring in a recorded statement Saturday that the country had removed what he described as an immediate existential threat.
“The campaign is not over, but we can already say clearly: we have historic achievements,” Netanyahu said in the address, delivered without taking questions.
He said Iran had sought to “strangle” Israel and destroy it, but that Israel had turned the situation around. “They threatened us with annihilation, and now they are fighting to survive,” he said.
Netanyahu said Israel acted after receiving what he described as precise intelligence indicating Iran was advancing toward nuclear weapons capability. “As prime minister of the only Jewish state, I could not accept that,” he said.
He added that Israeli operations — some of them covert — had delayed Iran’s progress, and that Israel later expanded its actions, including direct strikes inside Iran.
“We were the first to break the barrier of fear to act in Iran itself,” Netanyahu said.
According to Netanyahu, Israeli and U.S. strikes targeted nuclear facilities, missile stockpiles and launchers, and led to the killing of senior nuclear scientists involved in weaponization efforts.
“We eliminated 12 of their senior nuclear scientists,” he said, adding that further operations later killed additional figures tied to Iran’s nuclear program.
Netanyahu also claimed Israel had destroyed key infrastructure, including centrifuge systems, uranium production facilities and what he described as Iran’s heavy water plant in Arak.
“We reached a situation where Iran does not have a single active enrichment facility,” he said, without providing evidence.
He said Iran still possesses missiles but that its stockpile is “gradually depleting.”
Netanyahu also said Israel targeted broader elements of Iran’s military and economic infrastructure, including facilities linked to the Revolutionary Guards, weapons production sites and parts of the country’s energy sector.
“We hit dozens of weapons factories,” he said. “I am sparing you the details, but we did not spare them.”
He added that Israeli actions also aimed to weaken Iran’s leadership, describing it as being at its lowest point since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“We made a huge change here,” Netanyahu said. “There are people who say we have no achievements — but we have enormous achievements.”
He said the impact is reflected in what he described as a weakened Iranian government “begging for a ceasefire,” as well as internal disputes among its leadership and growing difficulty in meeting the needs of its citizens.
“Iran is no longer the same Iran,” Netanyahu said. “And Israel is no longer the same Israel. Those who threatened to destroy us are now fighting for their own survival.”
Netanyahu said Israel acted to remove what he described as a dual existential threat — Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its missile capabilities.
“If we had not acted, Iran would already have nuclear bombs,” he said.