Netanyahu: We knew in advance Iran's enriched uranium couldn't be destroyed

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the June war against Iran in an interview with i24NEWS.

The Prime Minister stated that with the looming threats of Iran's nuclear weapons program and its ballistic missile programs, he would have ordered the strikes on Iran even if the US did not approve those strikes. “Fortunately, we have a very sympathetic president," he said, "but the decision was made to proceed regardless, because our lives depend on it.”

"They still have 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, but they are not in a position to advance their nuclear program," he noted.

“We knew in advance it wouldn’t be destroyed,” he said of that uranium stockpile. “It’s a necessary condition but not a sufficient one to produce nuclear bombs. They’re not currently in a position to advance.”

“We defeated Iran, which came to destroy Israel with atomic bombs, we eliminated two enormous existential dangers,” he told i24NEWS.

Turning to the ongoing war in Gaza, Netanyahu stated that he would only accept an agreement in which all of the hostages still in Gaza are returned. “I’m not going back to partial agreements,” he said. “They misled us. I want them all.”

Netanyahu said that disagreements between military and political leaders and between political leaders are “legitimate and necessary," but once a decision is reached, the military must carry out that decision. He further accused anti-government activists and protest leaders of spreading false information about disagreements with military leaders.

Netanyahu told i24NEWS that he believes Gazan civilians should be allowed to flee the enclave, just as civilians have been allowed to flee from other conflicts, including the civil war that tore apart Syria. “Why should Gaza be closed?” he wondered. Israel is in talks with other countries to take in civilians from Gaza.

At the end of the interview, Netanyahu stated that the war needs to end in order to end the diplomatic attacks against Israel. “Not to linger, not to brag, not to wait,” he said. “We need to go for a decision.”