
Netanyahu: Israel can destroy all of Iran's nuclear sites without US help
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country is capable of attacking all of Iran's nuclear facilities without US support.
Netanyahu was interviewed by an Israeli TV station on Thursday.
Asked whether a uranium enrichment plant in Fordow could be attacked with or without US involvement, Netanyahu said, "We have the power to remove all our targets, all their nuclear facilities."
The Fordow complex reportedly lies about 80 meters underground in a mountainous area of central Iran.
The administration of US President Donald Trump is reportedly considering military intervention upon Israel's request, and the use of so-called bunker-buster bombs to destroy the Fordow facility.
US news site Axios on Wednesday quoted Israeli government sources as saying Israel alone could cause huge damage to the Fordow complex.
The sources said Israel made a surprise attack against an underground missile plant in Syria last September. They said Israel may not have to rely on the "bunker buster."
Trump issued a message on Thursday saying he will decide within two weeks whether to take military action against Iran.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


NHK
an hour ago
- NHK
UK Defence Ministry: Israel-Iran conflict gives Russia opportunities, challenges
The British Defence Ministry says the current conflict between Israel and Iran will likely bring both benefits and disadvantages to Russia, which continues its aggression against Ukraine. The ministry posted an analysis on social media on Thursday. It says, "Russia almost certainly perceives some benefit in the conflict as it distracts international focus from its war against Ukraine." The ministry notes, "Russia is under no formal obligation to provide Iran with any military assistance in its conflict with Israel." It points out that the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement signed by the two countries in January does not include a mutual-defense clause. The UK ministry also says the Israel-Iran conflict "will likely negatively impact the future provision of Iranian military equipment to Russia" although Iran has supplied the country with drones, ballistic missiles and artillery munitions.


Kyodo News
an hour ago
- Kyodo News
Kyodo News Digest: June 19, 2025
KYODO NEWS - 23 hours ago - 23:00 | All, World, Japan The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News. ---------- Nippon Steel confident management freedom ensured in U.S. Steel deal TOKYO - Nippon Steel Corp.'s top executive Eiji Hashimoto said Thursday that the U.S. government's role set under its $14.1 billion buyout of United States Steel Corp. "will not hamper" the U.S. unit's business going forward. At a press conference in Tokyo, Hashimoto said $11 billion of investment in U.S. Steel operations -- 10 times more than the initial plan -- and a golden share issued to the U.S. government that allows it to veto key management decisions among other conditions are rational, even as analysts view them as downside risks to U.S. Steel's management. ---------- Japan PM Ishiba rules out lower house dissolution for now: lawmaker TOKYO - Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Thursday ruled out dissolving the powerful House of Representatives for now, ensuring that elections for both chambers of parliament will not be held on the same day in July, party executives said. The decision comes as Yoshihiko Noda, head of Japan's main opposition party, said he will not submit a no-confidence motion against Ishiba's Cabinet, arguing that such a move would stall progress on key political issues. ---------- Japan to send 2 defense force planes for possible Mideast airlift TOKYO - Japan will send two Self-Defense Forces airplanes to eastern Africa for a possible operation to evacuate its nationals from the Middle East, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said Thursday, amid the escalating Israel-Iran conflict. Nakatani told reporters that two C-2 transport aircraft with a total of about 120 crew members will fly to an SDF base in Djibouti and be on standby there, following a request from Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya earlier that day. ---------- Japan imperial couple commemorates A-bomb victims in Hiroshima HIROSHIMA - Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on Thursday visited Hiroshima to pay their respects to atomic bomb victims ahead of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. In their first trip to the city since the emperor's accession in 2019, the imperial couple laid white flowers and bowed deeply at a cenotaph in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, which holds the names of around 340,000 victims of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing. ---------- Chief organizer of Nobel Prize A-bomb survivors group steps down TOKYO - Sueichi Kido, 85, officially stepped down as secretary general of Japan's Nobel Peace Prize-winning atomic bomb survivors group Nihon Hidankyo at its annual meeting on Thursday due to ill health. Kido was 5 years old when he was exposed to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in the final days of World War II. In 2017, he assumed the post that effectively leads the group's efforts to abolish nuclear arms and was among the delegation that accepted the Nobel Prize in Oslo in December. ---------- New Zealand pauses Cook Islands funding over deepening China ties SYDNEY - New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in funding to the Cook Islands, the government said Thursday, as relations between the two countries deteriorate over the South Pacific island nation's deepening ties with China. A spokesman for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand has paused NZ$18.2 million ($10.9 million) in development assistance funding for the 2025-2026 financial year, noting such support depends on a "high trust bilateral relationship." ---------- Kyodo News endorses executive director Sawai as president TOKYO - Kyodo News formally endorsed Executive Director Toshimitsu Sawai, who previously served as chief editor of the Foreign News Section, as its president on Thursday. At an organizational meeting, Sawai, 62, who became executive director in June 2021, said, "As the media environment grows increasingly challenging in many ways, I feel a strong sense of responsibility." ---------- Knife, armor from Japan's largest ancient keyhole-shaped tomb found OSAKA - A gold-plated iron knife and armor fragments, believed to have been made with advanced 5th-century techniques, have been confirmed as coming from Japan's largest ancient keyhole-shaped tomb mound, a university said Thursday. The Daisen Kofun in Osaka Prefecture is under control of the Imperial Household Agency as the mausoleum of Emperor Nintoku, who is said to have reigned in the 4th century, but academic debate continues about who was actually buried there. Video: Hydrangea festival at Kumano Nachi Taisha shrine in western Japan


NHK
2 hours ago
- NHK
Israel, Iran continue attacks, nuclear facility in western Iran damaged
Concerns are growing that Israel and Iran will further escalate military action, as the clash between the two countries enters its second week. The Israeli military said on Friday that it conducted overnight airstrikes on dozens of targets in central Tehran, including research headquarters for nuclear weapons development, as well as missile production sites. Israel continues to attack nuclear facilities across Iran. The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Friday that key buildings at an inactive nuclear reactor facility in Khondab, western Iran, were damaged. Satellite images taken by US company Maxar Technologies show the damage at the site, which is believed to have been attacked on Wednesday evening. The white reactor building in the pre-attack image appears in the post-attack image to be burned, with a hole at its center. Some of the buildings around the reactor are completely destroyed. The Reuters news agency has reported that the nuclear facility's infrastructure has been damaged. Israeli media reported that seven people sustained minor injuries after an Iranian missile hit a residential district in the southern city of Beersheba. Attention is on whether the United States will attack an underground nuclear facility in Fordow, central Iran, with a "bunker buster" bomb, which can strike a target deep below ground level. Israel reportedly requested military intervention by the US. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a domestic TV station on Thursday that the country is capable of attacking the Fordow site without US involvement.