US-Israel strikes on Iran: Netanyahu says ‘we are very, very close to completing the objectives'

Mint

4 hours ago

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday (June 22) said Israel was nearing its strategic goals in Iran following a series of high-profile US-led airstrikes on Tehran's nuclear infrastructure.
'I have no doubt that this is a regime that wants to wipe us out, and that's why we embarked on this operation to eliminate the two concrete threats to our existence: the nuclear threat and the ballistic missile threat,' Netanyahu said, addressing reporters.
'We are moving step by step towards achieving these goals. We are very, very close to completing them.'
He stressed that the campaign would end only when those objectives were met. 'We won't pursue our actions beyond what is needed to achieve them, but we also won't finish too soon,' he added.
Netanyahu made it clear that Israel would avoid getting bogged down in prolonged conflict. 'We won't be dragged into a war of attrition but also won't end the campaign prematurely,' he said.
He also revealed that Israeli intelligence had new insights: 'We have interesting intel on the location of Iran's 60% enriched uranium,' he said, suggesting further strikes could be imminent.
Hours after the strikes, Netanyahu visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem to pray for US President Donald Trump, whose administration authorized the bombing of Iranian nuclear sites.
In a video released by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, Netanyahu is seen praying with his wife Sara and placing a handwritten note into the wall. 'Bless, protect and help the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who has taken it upon himself to drive out evil and darkness in the world,' he prayed.
President Donald Trump, who authorised the strikes as part of Operation Midnight Hammer, defended the decision and warned Iran against retaliation.
'Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace,' Trump declared.
He added a stark warning: 'There will either be peace, or there will be tragedy for Iran.'
The Pentagon confirmed that B-2 bombers dropped 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs on Iran's key nuclear facilities, including Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. While Iran and the IAEA said there was no radiation leak, the Pentagon said the facilities had suffered 'sustained, extremely severe damage and destruction.'
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned, 'The Americans must receive a response to their aggression,' in remarks made to French President Emmanuel Macron.
'The warmongering and lawless administration in Washington is solely and fully responsible for the dangerous consequences and far-reaching implications of its act of aggression,' Araghchi said, adding that he would fly to Moscow to coordinate with Russia.
Despite the aggressive strike, the Trump administration signaled openness to diplomacy. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio refrained from specifying whether the US would respond with military force if Iran attempted to close the Strait of Hormuz or if Iranian proxy groups targeted oil infrastructure. "I'm not going to take options away from the president, that's not something we're talking about right now in terms of being immediate."
Rubio acknowledged that while such a move would impact the U.S., it would have far greater consequences globally—particularly for China.
"That would be a suicidal move on [Iran's] part, because I think the whole world would come against them if they did that," Rubio said.