Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said the US-Israeli strikes against Iran will be “quick and decisive” and insisted that the war won’t be endless, but a necessary step toward long-term peace in the Middle East. The region has been in strife since February 28 after US-Israeli strikes killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggered Tehran’s retaliatory attacks on American and Israeli bases across the Gulf.
Speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity on the programme ‘Hannity’, Netanyahu said the US and Israel’s strikes against Iran may take “some time” but it will not take years.
“This is not an endless war, this is the gateway to peace,” Netanyahu said. Asked whether he saw a lasting path to peace in the region, he replied, “Yes, I do.”
Netanyahu said the US and Israel’s strikes against Iran were creating a scenario for the Iranian people to topple their government.
“Now, of course, it’s up to the people of Iran in the final count to change the government, but we are creating – America and Israel together are creating – the conditions for them to do so,” he said.
The Israeli Prime Minister described Iran’s leadership as “unreformable” and “totally fanatical about destroying America,” arguing that military action had become unavoidable.
“The Iranian terror regime is at the weakest point it’s ever been at,” he said, adding that the ongoing strikes were “necessary” because Tehran had begun rebuilding nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities after earlier facilities were severely damaged.
Despite Israeli-US air raids during a 12-day war in June 2025 that targeted three key Iranian nuclear sites, Netanyahu claimed Iranian personnel had resumed work, constructing new underground bunkers to continue developing ballistic missiles and atomic weapons.
“If no action was taken now, no action could be taken in the future,” he said, warning that Iran’s nuclear build-up would have been “immune within months” without intervention.
Israel has long opposed Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme, arguing it is aimed at weapons development rather than peaceful civilian use, as Tehran maintains.
NETANYAHU PRAISES TRUMP
Netanyahu strongly defended US President Donald Trump and dismissed claims that Israel had drawn Washington into the conflict. When Hannity asked if Israel had “dragged Trump” into the war, Netanyahu laughed it off.
“That’s ridiculous. Donald Trump is the strongest leader in the world. He does what he thinks is right for America,” he said, adding, “There has never been a president like Donald J Trump.”
“I know the cost of war. But I know that sometimes war is necessary to protect us from the people who would destroy us,” he added.
Netanyahu’s remarks came after Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth rejected comparisons between the expanding assault on Iran and past US wars in the Middle East.
“This is not Iraq, this is not an endless war,” Hegseth said, describing the campaign as rapid and overwhelming rather than an occupation or nation-building effort.
While denying that the war was aimed at regime change, Hegseth said, “This is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change, and the world is better off for it.”
Earlier, Trump said the operation had initially been projected to last four to five weeks but could continue longer if necessary.
“The capability to go far longer than that” exists, he said, warning that Iran’s ballistic missile programme was “growing rapidly and dramatically” and posed a “very clear, colossal threat to America and our forces stationed overseas.”
MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT ENTERS FOURTH DAY
According to US officials, more than 1,250 targets in Iran have been struck, 11 Iranian ships destroyed and at least 10 warships sunk. Six US service personnel have been killed in Iranian retaliatory attacks on Kuwait over the weekend.
The US-Israeli strikes have killed top Iranian politicians and military officials, including Khamenei, and hit more than 1,000 targets.
The widening conflict has plunged the Gulf into war, killed scores of civilians in Iran, Israel and Lebanon, disrupted global aviation and forced shipping shutdowns through the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint for nearly one-fifth of the world’s oil trade — sending energy prices sharply higher.
(with inputs from Reuters)
