Israel “will finish the job” on Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday in sharp comments that come amid growing speculation that Israeli forces could soon launch direct attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Speaking at a joint press conference in Jerusalem alongside U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Mr. Netanyahu hailed the leadership of the Trump administration and said the two countries are fully aligned in the need to protect Israel’s security and counter the regional threats from Iran.
“Israel and America stand shoulder to shoulder in countering the threat of Iran. We agree that the ayatollahs must not be allowed to have nuclear weapons. We also agreed that Iran’s aggression in the region has to be rolled back,” Mr. Netanyahu said, according to Israeli media.
With the support of the U.S., he added, Israel “can and will finish the job.”
Mr. Netanyahu’s remarks come just days after U.S. media reports indicated that American intelligence officials believe Israel could directly strike key facilities in Iran’s nuclear program. It appears that the Netanyahu government believes it would have at least tacic support from Washington in carrying out such strikes, if not outright logistical and military assistance from America.’
In an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation” program on Sunday, Mr. Rubio didn’t speak directly to potential Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. But he also did not downplay the idea that such actions are on the table.
“Israel will always have to act in what they believe is their national interest and their national defense, so I’m not going to speak about whatever strategies they may have on this or any other topic,” Mr. Rubio said.
Iran’s nuclear program has raced ahead in recent years. U.S. officials have warned recently that Iran’s nuclear “breakout time,” or the time it would take to produce enough fissile material to make a nuclear bomb, is now two weeks or less.
President Trump and his team insist that Iran will not be allowed to develop such a weapon.
Israeli strikes against Iran would have recent precedent. The Israeli Defense Forces have struck Iran directly twice over the past 12 months, each time after Iran launched its own drone and rocket attacks against Israel. The Iranian attacks, officials in Tehran said, were retaliation for Israeli operations that killed Iranian military officials, including one operation in Tehran believed to have been carried out by Israel.
Mr. Netanyahu’s comments came just hours after Hamas, the Iran-backed Palestinian terrorist group, released another round of hostages it has held since its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas calls for the continued release of hostages in exchange for a pause in hostilities and the release of some Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.