Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu declares Iran’s nuclear dreams destroyed after air strikes

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Iran no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium or produce ballistic missiles following 20 days of U.S.-Israeli air attacks.

“We are winning, and Iran is being decimated,” Netanyahu told reporters, adding that Iran's missile and drone arsenal is being “massively degraded and will be destroyed.”

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“What we're destroying now are the factories that produce the components to make these missiles and to make the nuclear weapons that they're trying to produce,” he said.

Netanyahu did not provide evidence to support his claim that Iran no longer has the ability to enrich uranium.

Iran’s nuclear programme had been the focus of mediated talks, which ultimately collapsed, leading to U.S. and Israeli air strikes on February 28. In response, Iran has fired missiles at Israel and other Gulf countries and has restricted tanker movements through the Strait of Hormuz.

Despite nearly three weeks of conflict, Netanyahu said it is still too early to predict whether Iranians will rise against their government. “It's up to the Iranian people to show that, to choose the moment and to rise to the moment,” he said.

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While the war has so far been conducted through air strikes, Netanyahu said there would need to be a ground component as well, noting there are “many possibilities for this ground component,” without elaborating further.

Netanyahu also rejected suggestions that he had involved the United States in the conflict. “Does anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do?” he said.