Netanyahu After U.S.-Iran Deal: “We’ll Have to Stay on Guard and Defend Ourselves Whenever Necessary”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a special public statement this evening (Monday), hours after the signing of the agreement between the United States and Iran. At the start of his remarks, Netanyahu stressed that preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons remains at the top of his agenda: “Dear citizens of Israel. For decades, I have been fighting Iran’s efforts to arm itself with nuclear weapons. This is my life’s mission. With or without an agreement, Iran will not have nuclear weapons. As long as I am prime minister — it will not happen.”

According to Netanyahu, Israel succeeded in removing a major threat from its citizens: “I hear people asking what we achieved in Iran — we pushed back an immediate danger of destruction hanging over us. We caused enormous damage to Iran’s economy, which took it decades to build. We saved the State of Israel from the threat of nuclear annihilation, because Iran was racing toward the bomb.”

He went on to say that, in his view, without the actions Israel has taken in recent years, the security reality could have been far more severe: “If we had not acted, Iran would have had atomic bombs. The citizens of Israel would have been in terrible danger of mass death. We all would have been in that danger. And we pushed that danger back for years — we saved the State of Israel from destruction. But the struggle is not over.”

According to Netanyahu, even after the agreement signed between Washington and Tehran, Israel will continue to preserve its security freedom of action against Iran and the terror organizations it supports: “We will have to continue to stay on guard. We will have to defend ourselves whenever necessary, not only against Iran — but also against Iran’s terror proxies.”

As part of his review of Israel’s security activity in the region, Netanyahu listed a series of actions carried out in recent years: “We did this in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Yemen, in Syria. We eliminated Deif, Haniyeh, and Sinwar. We destroyed thousands of terrorists and countless terror infrastructures. We brought back all our hostages, and no one believed we would do it.”

The prime minister also addressed the Israeli presence in Lebanon and Gaza and made clear that Israel does not intend to give up the security mechanisms built after the October 7 attack: “We established deep security buffer zones around the State of Israel — in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Syria.” He added: “I want to make this clear: we will remain in the security zone for as long as necessary to protect our country. After October 7, I set a simple principle: we will not allow terror organizations to camp on our borders.”

In response to a question about whether he had erred when he presented the fall of the ayatollahs’ regime as one of the operation’s goals, Netanyahu replied: “Who said I was wrong? I was not wrong at all. I defined the goals differently from what you said”.

He was later asked whether he alone is the one making decisions in Israel, and not U.S. President Donald Trump. Netanyahu responded: “I set certain parameters for our activity, and we are carrying it out. We cannot completely ignore what the United States says.”

He also addressed his relationship with Trump: “The president and I have known each other for many years. He is the president of the U.S.; I am the prime minister of Israel. Very often we see eye to eye, and there are cases when less so. I am responsible for Israel’s security interests. You have to stand firm without bluster, and do it wisely, and that requires a great deal of experience and a deep familiarity with the American arena.”

The prime minister also addressed his political future and made clear that he intends to run in the next election: “I intend to run in the next elections and win.” In response to a question regarding the agreement with Iran, he said: “We still do not yet know exactly what will be in the agreement.”