Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Friday that Iran’s generals had no missiles left to fire, announcing the complete elimination of the country’s ballistic missile production and uranium enrichment capabilities following twenty days of conflict. He predicted victory was near and rejected claims about Israeli manipulation of US foreign policy. Netanyahu’s press conference was confident and forward-looking throughout, projecting certainty about the conflict’s imminent conclusion.
The prime minister spoke about the Trump-Israel alliance in terms of deep strategic alignment. He called their coordination historically unprecedented and framed Trump as the partnership’s dominant force. Netanyahu revealed that Trump had contributed his own independently formed and analytically sophisticated understanding of Iran’s nuclear threat to their discussions, reflecting a genuine partnership of strategic equals.
Netanyahu confirmed Israel struck the South Pars gas compound alone and acknowledged Trump’s personal request to pause further strikes on Iranian gas infrastructure. He treated both the military action and the diplomatic communication transparently, presenting them as natural elements of a close and functioning alliance. Netanyahu maintained throughout that Israel’s military autonomy remained fully intact.
On Iran’s Hormuz threats, Netanyahu was dismissive. He labeled them empty blackmail and proposed pipeline routes from the Arabian Peninsula to Israeli and Mediterranean ports as a permanent structural solution. Netanyahu argued this infrastructure would eliminate the Hormuz chokepoint as an Iranian weapon and create lasting energy security for the region.
Netanyahu ended with observations about Iran’s leadership confusion. He noted Mojtaba had not appeared publicly and admitted genuine uncertainty about who was governing the country. Netanyahu pointed to the intense competition for power among Tehran’s ruling factions and concluded that this instability, combined with military losses, was pushing the war toward a faster-than-expected end.