Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu revealed overnight Monday in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that President Donald Trump told him he wanted to physically enter Iran to remove enriched nuclear material from the country.
In his first interview with an American network since the current war with Tehran began, Netanyahu also reiterated his intention to phase out U.S. military aid to Israel entirely over the next decade. He also rejected reports that he had pushed Trump toward war by presenting overly optimistic assessments that the Iranian regime would quickly collapse, saying, “We both agreed that there was both uncertainty and risk involved.”
Prime minister’s interview with '60 Minutes'
(Video: '60 Minutes')
Speaking with correspondent Major Garrett, Netanyahu stressed that the military campaign is not over. “It accomplished a great deal, but it’s not over,” Netanyahu said. “There’s still nuclear material, enriched uranium that has to be taken out of Iran. There are still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled. There are still proxies that Iran supports. There are ballistic missiles that they still want to produce.”
Asked how the uranium would be removed, Netanyahu replied: “You go in, and you take it out.”
Pressed on whether that would involve Israeli or American special forces, Netanyahu declined to discuss military plans but revealed details of a conversation with Trump. “What President Trump has said to me, ‘I want to go in there,’” Netanyahu said. He added that such an operation was physically possible. “If you have an agreement, and you go in, and you take it out, why not? That’s the best way,” he said.
Another major announcement in the interview concerned the economic relationship between Israel and the United States. Netanyahu said it was time to reassess and ultimately eliminate U.S. financial assistance, which currently totals $3.8 billion annually.
“I want to draw down to zero the American financial support, the financial component of the military cooperation that we have,” Netanyahu said. “I think that it’s time that we weaned ourselves from the remaining military support.”
He said he had already discussed the proposal with Trump and called for beginning the process immediately rather than waiting for a future Congress. “Let’s start now and do it over the next decade, over the next 10 years,” Netanyahu said. “I don’t want to wait for the next Congress. I want to start now.”
At the same time, Netanyahu argued that Israel’s contribution to the United States extends far beyond financial considerations. He cited retired Gen. Jack Keane’s claim that Israeli intelligence shared with the United States is “worth five CIA agencies,” adding that even if the estimate was exaggerated, Israel’s intelligence and technological contributions justified moving from an aid-based relationship to one of partnership.
During the interview, Garrett quoted a British ambassador as saying Britain no longer has a “special relationship” with the United States and that such ties now exist between Israel and the U.S. Netanyahu replied: “I don’t always agree with British ambassadors, but on that I’ll have to agree.”
The interview took place just hours after Israeli strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Netanyahu ruled out a ceasefire with Iran that would leave Hezbollah intact, saying Tehran wanted to preserve the group in order to “continue to torture Lebanon, continue to hold its people hostage” and threaten Israeli cities.
According to Netanyahu, Hezbollah possessed roughly 150,000 rockets and missiles before the war, which he described as “the densest concentration in the world” of such weapons. He said Israel had destroyed more than 90% of that arsenal, though thousands of rockets and some ballistic missiles remain.
He also said Hezbollah had deployed about 5,000 Radwan Force operatives before the war who were prepared to invade the Galilee, a scenario Israel viewed as a potential repeat — “and beyond” — of the Oct. 7 massacre. Netanyahu said the Israel Defense Forces pushed the force back and established a security zone preventing anti-tank fire on Israeli communities near the border.
The prime minister also expressed hope that weakening or toppling the Iranian regime would lead to the collapse of its entire proxy network, including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis in Yemen. “If this regime is indeed weakened or possibly toppled, I think it’s the end of Hezbollah, it’s the end of Hamas, it’s probably the end of the Houthis,” he said. “Because the whole scaffolding of the terrorist proxy network that Iran built collapses if the regime in Iran collapses.”
Later in the interview, Netanyahu addressed a New York Times report that he had presented an overly optimistic assessment during a February White House Situation Room meeting, suggesting regime change in Iran was assured. He denied the report, insisting that both leaders acknowledged the risks and uncertainty involved in military action.
“Not only did I note it,” Netanyahu said. “We both agreed … that there was both uncertainty and risk involved.” He added: “There’s danger in taking action. But there’s greater danger in not taking action.”
At the same time, Netanyahu pointed to what he described as unprecedented rapprochement with Arab states as a result of the fighting. He said some Arab countries were now pushing to deepen alliances with Israel in areas such as energy, artificial intelligence and quantum technology to deter Iran.
“I now see the possibility of the expansion and the deepening of the agreements we do have to alliances with Arab states of the kind that we never even dreamed of,” he said.
Netanyahu added that Arab states increasingly see strategic value in cooperation with Israel. “Let’s strengthen our alliance with Israel, because that in fact deters Iran,” he said, describing messages he said he had heard from regional countries.
On China’s role, Netanyahu confirmed that Beijing had supplied Iran with certain components used in missile production. “China gave certain amount of support and particular components of missile manufacturing,” he said, while declining to elaborate ahead of a planned summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Asked whether the support disturbed him, Netanyahu replied: “Well, I didn’t like it.”
Netanyahu also addressed Russia, saying Moscow’s direct military support for Iran “was not a big issue” in the current conflict. Asked whether Russia provided intelligence assistance to Tehran, he declined to answer.
The prime minister was also questioned about declining public support for Israel in the United States, particularly amid images from Gaza. He attributed much of the damage to manipulation on social media by foreign countries.
“We have several countries that basically manipulated social media,” Netanyahu said. “And they do it in a clever way. And that’s something that has hurt us badly.”
“Israel is besieged on the media front, on the propaganda front, and we’ve not done well on the propaganda war,” he acknowledged.
Garrett also pressed Netanyahu about changing attitudes in Washington, noting that bipartisan support for Israel in Congress was weaker than at any point in his career. Netanyahu responded that the trend reflected “a recurring historical cycle of antisemitism” and argued that one explanation was “envy of Jewish success and Israel’s strength.”
Asked whether tactical mistakes by the IDF contributed to declining support, Netanyahu said civilian casualties sometimes occur in war. “Armies sometimes miss and civilians die,” he said. “These are mistakes, these are not deliberate things that happen.”
He also defended Israel’s efforts to avoid civilian casualties. “Israel has gone to unbelievable lengths to get innocent civilians out of harm’s way,” Netanyahu said. “We text message millions of text messages to them, make millions of phone calls to them, pamphlets, leaflets, you name it.”
Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s commitment to demilitarizing Gaza and preventing Hamas from posing a future threat. He said that if the international community failed to take responsibility for disarming Hamas and demilitarizing the enclave, Israel would eventually do so itself “at the time and under the circumstances” of its choosing.
“Somebody has to disarm them. Somebody has to then demilitarize Gaza,” Netanyahu said. “We are not going to let Hamas ever threaten Israel again.”
He stressed that two of Israel’s central objectives had not yet been achieved: disarming Hamas and fully demilitarizing Gaza. According to Netanyahu, Israel has significantly reduced Hamas weapons production and disrupted smuggling routes, particularly along the Philadelphi Corridor, but Hamas has not fulfilled any commitment to disarm.