Benjamin Netanyahu Never Waivered on the Menace That Is a Nuclear Iran
Israel’s bold airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear program reflected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long insistence that the Iranian nuclear program has only one purpose: to construct nuclear weapons.
For many years, Netanyahu was often the only leader globally arguing this.
Iran has long claimed its nuclear program is entirely peaceful, that it has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.
Most of the world accepted Iran’s claim that's enrichment program was for "scientific" purposes, even though it began this effort in secret; even after Iran commenced enriching uranium to a near-weapons-grade level with no peaceful purpose.
Most world leaders also refused to take seriously a flood of information since the 2000s, indicating Iran had a growing nuclear weapons program.
This included dozens of secret nuclear sites that violated Iran’s nuclear treaty obligations, and refusing to cooperate with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections and investigations.
Leaders globally also did little in response to hundreds of thousands of secret Iranian documents on its nuclear weapons program stolen by Israeli intelligence in 2018.
Among other things, these documents revealed that Iran had acquired several nuclear weapon blueprints and had a deception program to hide weapons-related nuclear activities from the IAEA.
Netanyahu took all of this information seriously.
He also refused to go along with a controversial 2007 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran’s nuclear program that concluded Iran’s nuclear weapons program had been halted in 2003.
Deep state intelligence officers drafted this assessment and was so politicized that both former CIA Director James Schlesinger and Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz branded it "stupid intelligence."
Although the 2007 NIE has been discredited, it remains the official position of the U.S. Intelligence Community.
I note that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has fired or reassigned intelligence officers who draft NIEs because they have politicized other major intelligence assessments.
This is why I called on Gabbard in an April 2025 article to reverse the 2007 Iran NIE as soon as possible.
Netanyahu also was not fooled by the disastrous 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), negotiated by the Obama administration.
President Trump called this agreement "the worst deal ever" and withdrew from it in 2018.
The Israeli leader knew the JCPOA’s most significant flaw was allowing Iran to continue to enrich uranium and develop advanced enrichment centrifuges while the agreement was in effect.
Netanyahu also knew the JCPOA had weak verification provisions and that Iran would cheat on the agreement, which it did.
Netanyahu ignored the foolhardy attempts by the Biden administration to revive the JCPOA. This included allowing Iran to enrich uranium to the near weapons-grade level of 60% U-235, offering to take the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) off the U.S. list of terrorist organizations, striking a $6 billion ransom deal with Tehran, and ignoring Iran’s ongoing effort to assassinate President Trump and other officials from his first term.
Despite many over-the-top concessions offered to Iran by Biden’s negotiators to get a new nuclear deal, Iran was so unreasonable in the negotiations that (fortunately) an agreement could not be reached.
I've heard reports that Netanyahu decided to attack Iran’s nuclear sites after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre. I don’t know if this is the case, but I believe the massive surge in Iran’s production of 60% enriched uranium that started during the Biden administration was also a major factor in this decision.
Iran now has 900 pounds of 60% enriched uranium, which could be used to fuel 9-10 nuclear bombs.
Using this enriched uranium, Iran could have a prototype bomb in six months to a year and multiple bombs to attack Israel in a year to 18 months.
Netanyahu reportedly delayed attacking Iran earlier this year because President Trump wanted to give diplomacy a try to address the threat from the Iranian nuclear program.
Trump gave Iran 60 days to make a deal with the United States.
Netanyahu was not going to delay indefinitely, and after Iran dragged its feet in the negotiations and the 60 days expired, Trump did not veto Israel’s recent attack on Iran.
Netanyahu understood the growing threat from Iran’s nuclear program, and that time was running out to deal with this threat.
He oversaw a sophisticated surprise attack on Iran that no one thought was possible and dealt a devastating blow to the Iranian nuclear and missile programs.
Netanyahu also made a convincing case to his friend and partner President Donald Trump about the threat from Iran’s nuclear program and managed to carry out this risky attack with Trump’s support.
By patiently standing by his position on the growing threat from Iran’s nuclear program and taking action against this threat at the right moment, Benjamin Netanyahu did the Mideast, and all globally, a great favor.
Israel and America are very fortunate to have principled and courageous leaders like Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump, who are working as partners to take bold action to protect the security of their countries and the world.
Fred Fleitz is Vice Chair of the America First Policy Institute’s Center for American Security. He previously served as National Security Council chief of staff, CIA analyst, and a House Intelligence Committee staff member — Read Fred Fleitz's reports — Click Here Now.
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