Iran no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium or produce ballistic missiles, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a press conference on the 20th day since the start of the war between Israel and the United States against the Islamic Republic, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
"We are winning and Iran is being beheaded", Netanyahu said, adding that Iran's arsenals of missiles and drones have been significantly reduced and will be completely destroyed.
"Now we are destroying factories that produce the components for these missiles and for the nuclear weapons they are trying to produce", the Israeli leader added. He did not provide any evidence for his claims that Iran no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium, Reuters notes.
Iran's nuclear program has been a central issue in the US-Iranian talks, which were conducted through intermediaries. However, the talks collapsed due to the surprise attack that the US and Israel launched against the Islamic Republic on February 28. Subsequently, Iran began firing missiles at Israel and Gulf countries, and also blocked the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies pass.
Although the war has been going on for almost three weeks, it is still not clear whether Iranians will take to the streets to oust their government, Netanyahu said. He said the Iranian people themselves should "choose the right moment and seize it".
Netanyahu noted that there should also be a ground component to the war, which has so far been fought through air strikes. "There are many possibilities for this ground component," the Israeli prime minister added, without going into details.
He denied that Israel had drawn the United States into the conflict. "Does anyone really think that a person like President Trump could do this", Netanyahu asked.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that Iran's attempts to blackmail the entire world by blocking the Strait of Hormuz are doomed to failure, Agence France-Presse reported.
"The deadly sect that rules Iran is trying to blackmail the world by closing a key sea route, namely the Strait of Hormuz. But this tactic will not work," Netanyahu stressed in a press conference broadcast live on television.
"Israel is contributing, in its own way, through intelligence and other means, to the American efforts to open the strait," he added.