Iran no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium or manufacture ballistic missiles after 20 days of air strikes by the US and Israel, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a press conference held this Thursday (19).
“We are winning, and Iran is being decimated,” he said, noting that Iran’s missile and drone arsenal is being massively degraded and will be destroyed.
“What we are destroying now are the factories that produce the components to build these missiles and to manufacture the nuclear weapons that they are trying to produce,” the premier said.
He provided no evidence that Iran no longer has the ability to enrich uranium.
Iran’s nuclear program was the focus of mediated talks that ultimately collapsed with the launch of a US and Israeli air strike against Iran on February 28.
Iran has fired missiles at Israel and other Persian Gulf countries, as well as blocking tankers from using the Strait of Hormuz.
Despite the nearly three-week war, it is still too early to say whether Iranians will take to the streets to try to overthrow their government, Netanyahu said.
“It is up to the Iranian people to show this, to choose the moment and to rise to the moment,” he said.
While the war has so far been conducted through airstrikes, Netanyahu said there must also be a ground component and “there are many possibilities for that ground component.” He did not go into details.
Netanyahu also denied that he had.
“Does anyone really think anyone can tell President Trump what to do?” he asked.
