Netanyahu Declines to Criticize Iran Deal, Claims War’s Main Goals Met

by | Jun 15, 2026 | News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held his first press conference in three months on Monday evening, defending the recently concluded war against Iran while admitting he still does not know what the new agreement between Washington and Tehran contains.

Israel was kept out of the negotiations entirely, a point underscored when Netanyahu told a reporter that his government had not yet seen the details of the deal, which is to be formally signed Friday in Switzerland after Sunday night’s digital signing.

Although Trump pressed Israel to stop fighting and defer to Washington, Netanyahu opened with a confident defense of the six week offensive, promising that Iran would never obtain nuclear weapons. With or without an agreement, he said, that would not happen while he leads the country, calling it his life’s mission.

Facing growing criticism at home, including from inside his coalition, the premier listed what he described as Israel’s achievements: striking nuclear scientists, killing regime leaders, damaging nuclear sites, destroying missiles and factories, and inflicting heavy economic harm. His remarks echoed a speech he gave nearly a year earlier after the first war with Tehran.

Asked why the campaign ended with Iran’s regime still intact, Netanyahu rejected the idea that anything had failed. He said the cabinet’s goals were to remove the nuclear and missile dangers, which he claimed were accomplished, and to create conditions for Iranians to topple their government if they wished. He compared the timing to the fall of the Soviet Union, saying he could not predict when the regime would collapse.

The prime minister also pushed back on suggestions that Israel had lost its strategic independence. He described his bond with Trump as a partnership between people who know each other, noting they sometimes disagree, as happens in close families. He said Israeli troops would remain in the buffer zone in southern Lebanon as long as necessary and credited his own firmness for keeping them there.

Netanyahu declined to compare the emerging framework to the 2015 nuclear deal, arguing the key difference now is a credible military threat backed by 14,000 sorties split roughly evenly between the two allies.

Opposition leaders were sharply critical. Naftali Bennett said the government’s term was ending in a historic failure. Gadi Eisenkot said Netanyahu would have earned more respect by admitting error. Yair Lapid argued he could not claim both regional dominance and near annihilation at once.

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