Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Monday night that the recent war with Iran had prevented Israel’s destruction, as he defended himself from outraged politicians across the political spectrum as the US and the Islamic Republic digitally signed a deal to end hostilities between them.
“We saved the State of Israel from the threat of nuclear annihilation,” Netanyahu told reporters after waiting more than 24 hours to comment on the deal, which was widely panned in Israel as a “dangerous step” that emboldened Iran.
“Iran was speeding toward becoming a nuclear power right before ‘Operation Roaring Lion,’” Netanyahu said, using Israel’s name for the war that began on February 28 with a joint US-Israeli strike against the Islamic Republic. A few days later, Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing on Israel from Lebanon.
“If we had not acted, Iran would already have atomic bombs,” Netanyahu said, adding that millions of Israeli citizens would have “been in terrible danger of mass death.”
His political foes, however, have accused him of “historic failure” after the U.S.-Iran agreement was announced Sunday. Israel has waged war against the Iranian proxy groups Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen as well as directly with the Islamic Republic in Iran without actually vanquishing any of these enemies.
Netanyahu, who is set to seek re-election in the fall, had initially hoped to secure a military victory that would prevent a nuclear Iran and bring about the fall of the Islamic Regime.
Knesset Member Yair Golan, who heads the left-wing Democrats Party, wrote on X that with one stroke of the pen Trump had erased tremendous military achievements secured with the blood of Israeli fighters, leaving Netanyahu “weak, sick, isolated and ineffective.”
Golan warned that the U.S. agreement “provides a lifeline to the murderous regime in Tehran” by pouring billions of dollars into the Iranian regime via sanctions relief, leaving too much of the nuclear infrastructure in place and failing to eliminate the ballistic missile threat.
“Netanyahu, the man who for years sold the Israeli public the false image of ‘Mr. Security,’ has in fact become the father of the greatest strategic failure in Israeli history,” Golan added.
At a press conference on Monday night in Israel, right-wing former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of the Yachad Party called the deal a “historic failure.”
His second in the party, MK Yair Lapid, who is a former prime minister and foreign minister, said, “Netanyahu lost the war. Netanyahu failed to deliver the goods – he collapsed when the moment of truth hit.”
Meanwhile, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is one of Netanyahu’s governing partners but is not part of the prime minister’s Likud Party and often strays from the coalition’s official line, warned that the memorandum was “bad for Israel and the entire free world.”
He added on X, “We will have to continue the campaign to overthrow the regime ourselves and in creative ways and ensure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon.”
The deal also underscored the deep divisions between Trump and Netanyahu, who has been among the American President’s staunchest allies but who now appears in danger of losing that favored status.
At Monday night’s press conference, Netanyahu tried to dismiss concern about his ties with Trump, describing the relationship as one of close partners who sometimes disagree. Israel cannot ignore its geopolitical reality, but it also can’t dismiss security concerns, Netanyahu said, adding that he doesn’t plan to restrain himself when it comes to preventing a nuclear Iran.
“Iran can’t have nuclear weapons,” he stressed.
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