{"id":348290,"date":"2026-03-20T01:22:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T01:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/348290\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T01:22:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T01:22:15","slug":"on-19th-day-of-war-netanyahu-says-iran-can-no-longer-enrich-uranium-build-missiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/348290\/","title":{"rendered":"On 19th day of war, Netanyahu says Iran can no longer enrich uranium, build missiles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran can no longer enrich uranium or manufacture ballistic missiles, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 20 days, I can tell you \u2014 Iran today has no ability to enrich uranium, and no ability to produce ballistic missiles,\u201d said Netanyahu in Jerusalem, speaking at his first in-person press conference since the launch of the US-Israel campaign against Iran on February 28.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are continuing to crush these capabilities. We will crush them to dust, to ashes,\u201d he said in a Hebrew statement to open the bilingual press conference. Iran \u201cis weaker than ever\u201d while Israel is a regional power \u201cand some would say a world power,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Hours after Netanyahu spoke in Jerusalem, Iran fired a series of missiles at Israel, causing sirens to go off repeatedly in the capital and elsewhere in the country.<\/p>\n

Iran has launched missile and drone attacks across the region in response to the ongoing bombing campaign that the US and Israel launched last month in a bid to destabilize its leadership and destroy its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.<\/p>\n

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In his English-language remarks, Netanyahu said that \u201cIn [Operation] Rising Lion [in June], we destroyed missiles and we destroyed a lot of the nuclear infrastructure. But what we\u2019re destroying now are the factories that produce the components to make these missiles and to make the nuclear weapons that they\u2019re trying to produce.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tAnti-missile batteries fire interception missiles toward incoming ballistic missiles launched from Iran, as seen over Tel Aviv, March 16, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re wiping out their industrial base in a way that we didn\u2019t do before.\u201d<\/p>\n

After killing Iran\u2019s supreme leader Ali Khamenei and dozens of top officials, Netanyahu said he is \u201cnot sure who is running Iran right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMojtaba [Khamenei], the replacement ayatollah, [has] not shown his face,\u201d he continued, adding that there is \u201ca lot of tension\u201d among officials at the top of the regime.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tA schoolgirl holds up a poster of Iran\u2019s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei during an anti-US and Israel demonstration in Baghdad, Iraq, on March 12, 2026. (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since he was chosen to replace his father, who was killed in the initial wave of US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran on February 28. Last week, a statement was issued in his name, carried by state media, vowing to \u201cavenge the blood\u201d of Iranians killed in the strikes, and another followed on Monday.<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump suggested Monday that it is unclear if the new Iranian leader is alive. Iranian state media have said that the younger Khamenei was wounded in the Israeli strike that killed his father, wife, son, and brother-in-law.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu indicated that Israel would continue to target Iranian leaders: \u201cIt does not matter who replaces them \u2014 we are making sure that the shifts in the Revolutionary Guards will be very short.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tA huge Iranian flag adorns a building as Iranians walk past damaged structures following an earlier military strike in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on March 15, 2026 (Atta KENARE \/ AFP) \/<\/p>\n

Netanyahu reiterated that Israel is working to create the conditions for Iranians to topple the regime, but that ultimately it is up to the Iranian people to overthrow the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, the regime could change,\u201d he said. \u201cIs it guaranteed? No. And it is up to the Iranian people in the final accounting to make use of the conditions that we\u2019re [creating], weakening the regime.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, he left the door open for Israeli involvement in some sort of ground operation to bring the regime down.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tIn this photo obtained by The Associated Press, Iranians attend an anti-government protest in Tehran, Iran, January 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can do a lot of things from the air, and we are doing, but there has to be a ground component as well,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are many possibilities for this ground component, and I take the liberty of not sharing with you all those possibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have yet to be large-scale protests against the regime during the war. Thousands of Iranians were killed in anti-government demonstrations in January, as the regime used live fire on its own citizens.<\/p>\n

There are many possibilities for this ground component, and I take the liberty of not sharing with you all those possibilities.<\/p>\n

Still said Netanyahu, \u201cwe\u2019re seeing cracks\u201d in the regime,\u201d both at the leadership level and in field units. \u201cIt\u2019s sort of like a hollowed-out, rotten piece of wood that\u2019s holding on the outside, but there\u2019s a lot of rot inside. We\u2019re seeing some defections.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Netanyahu did not give any indication as to how long the campaign will continue. It will go on, he said, for \u201cas long as is necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Israel acted alone\u2019<\/p>\n

After conflicting versions emerged<\/a> over the coordination \u2014 or lack thereof \u2014 between Netanyahu and Trump on an Israeli strike on a major Iranian gas field the previous day, the prime minister said he would not continue to target gas infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tFootage shows the aftermath of an IDF strike on the South Pars gas field on the northern coast of the Persian Gulf, in Asaluyeh, Iran, on March 18, 2026. (Social media, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)<\/p>\n

\u201cFact number one, Israel acted alone against the Asaluyeh [South Pars] gas compound,\u201d he said. \u201cFact number two, President Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks, and we\u2019re holding off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump said early on Thursday that Wednesday\u2019s gas field strike was uncoordinated with the US, and that Israel would not hit Iran\u2019s gas sites again, but that the US would if Iran kept up attacks on Gulf gas fields.<\/p>\n

Later Thursday, Trump added that he has told Netanyahu<\/a> not to strike any more Iranian oil and gas fields: \u201cI told him, \u2018Don\u2019t do that,\u2019 and he won\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tUS President Donald Trump attends a Friends of Ireland luncheon for Irish Prime Minister Miche\u00e1l Martin in the US Capitol, on St. Patrick\u2019s Day, on March 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/p>\n

However, US sources told The Times of Israel and other media outlets that Washington had approved the strike, that it was coordinated, and that the president knew about it ahead of time.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the Pentagon on Thursday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the strike on South Pars \u201ca warning\u201d and urged Iran to stop its retaliatory strikes on energy sites across the Gulf, which have sent oil prices soaring.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tUS Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth takes questions during a news conference at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on March 19, 2026. Oil and gas prices soared Thursday after Iran hit the world\u2019s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Qatar and threatened to destroy the region\u2019s energy infrastructure, and US President Donald Trump warned of a furious US response if such attacks continued. (Photo by Mandel NGAN \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Asked repeatedly at his press conference about claims from anti-Israel voices in the US that he dragged Trump into war against Iran against American interests, Netanyahu scoffed at the notion.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do? Come on,\u201d he said, adding that the US president \u201calways makes his decisions on what he thinks is good for America.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI misled no one,\u201d he stressed, \u201cand I didn\u2019t have to convince President Trump about the need to prevent Iran from developing its nuclear program, putting it underground, and being able to launch nuclear-tipped missiles at the United States. He understood that. He explained it to me. I didn\u2019t explain it to him. And I think that our partnership is the only way to avoid this catastrophic development.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tRep. Pramila Jayapal, Democrat-Washington, speaks during an event and memorial display calling for an end of the war in Iran, on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 18, 2026. (Jacquelyn Martin\/AP)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe loss of servicemen is painful,\u201d he acknowledged, recalling his brother Yoni, who in 1976 was killed leading \u201cthe historic Entebbe rescue. The cost to bereaved families is enormous, and I sympathize and send the condolences of the people of Israel to these families and to the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Netanyahu also hailed the depiction, in a recent US national security memorandum, of Israel as a \u201cmodel ally\u201d of America, and set this against \u201call the vilifications that are leveled at Israel \u2014 \u2018Israel is sponging off America\u2019 and all that. No, it\u2019s not. It\u2019s not. Israel is a brave country, a resolute country, with an incredible army, incredible soldiers, incredible courage, and we\u2019re fighting alongside the United States when the chips are down\u2026 We\u2019re fighting for a common goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tQatarEnergy\u2019s operating facilities in Ras Laffan Industrial City on March 2, 2026, prior to the Iranian missile attack that damaged them some two weeks later. (AFP)<\/p>\n

In the wake of Israel\u2019s attack on the South Pars oil field, Iran launched fresh salvos of drones and missiles toward the Gulf states Wednesday evening and into Thursday, including at key energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Missile strikes on Ras Laffan caused damage to a gas-to-liquids facility and early on Thursday sparked \u201csizeable fires and extensive further damage\u201d to several liquified natural gas facilities, QatarEnergy said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Multiple drones were also intercepted and destroyed as they headed toward Saudi gas facilities in the kingdom\u2019s Eastern Province.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tThis handout photo taken on March 11, 2026, and released by the Royal Thai Navy, shows smoke rising from the Thai bulk carrier \u2018Mayuree Naree\u2019 near the Strait of Hormuz after an attack. (Handout \/ ROYAL THAI NAVY \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Iran has effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway it shares with Oman, through which a fifth of the world\u2019s oil supply normally flows.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu, in his Thursday press conference, said it was vital to have \u201calternative routes instead of going through the chokepoints of the Hormuz Strait and the Bab-al-Mandab Strait in order to have the flow of oil.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is needed are \u201coil pipelines, gas pipelines going west through the Arabian Peninsula right up to Israel, right up to our Mediterranean ports, and you\u2019ve just done away with the chokepoints for forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

This vision \u201cis definitely possible,\u201d he said. \u201cI see that as a real change that will follow this war, but I also see this war ending a lot faster than people think.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran can no longer enrich uranium or manufacture ballistic missiles, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday. \u201cAfter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-348290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}