Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a “60 Minutes” interview airing Sunday that President Donald Trump wanted to remove Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium.
The United States and Israel launched military strikes against Iran on Feb. 28 after talks regarding the Islamic regime’s nuclear program broke down. Netanyahu told CBS News reporter Major Garrett that, while the campaign had achieved “a great deal,” he believed there was still “work to be done.”
“There’s still nuclear material — enriched uranium — that has to be taken out of Iran. There’s still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled,” Netanyahu said. “There’s still proxies that Iran supports, there’s ballistic missiles that they still want to produce. Now, we have degraded a lot of it, but all that is still there and there’s work to be done.”
“How do you envision the highly enriched uranium will be removed from Iran?” Garrett asked.
“You go in and you take it out,” Netanyahu replied.
WATCH:
Iranian state media claimed the rescued crew of a downed F-15E Strike Eagle was part of an operation targeting Iranian nuclear materiel kept at Isfahan, where Iran has a research center. Iranian outlets also claimed the U.S. lost multiple aircraft, but United States Central Command confirmed only one A-10 Thunderbolt close-air-support plane was lost and its pilot was safely recovered.
“With what, special forces from Israel, special forces [from the] United States?” Garrett asked.
“Well, I’m not gonna talk about military means, but the president— what President Trump said to me, ‘I want to go in there and I think it can be done physically,’” Netanyahu responded. “That’s not the problem. If you have an agreement and you go in and you take it out, why not? That’s the best way.”
“What if there isn’t an agreement? Can it be taken out by force?” Garrett asked.
“Well, [if] you’re gonna ask me these questions, I’m gonna dodge them because I’m not gonna talk about our military possibilities, plans, or anything of that kind,” the prime minister replied.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright claimed during a Sunday interview on “Meet the Press” that Iran had material for ten nuclear devices and over 1,000 pounds of uranium enriched to 60%. Wright also asserted that ending the Iranian nuclear program would lower energy costs in the long term. Trump Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff made similar allegations in a March 2 interview with Sean Hannity, but the administration has not offered evidence to corroborate the assertions from Witkoff or Wright.
Trump and other administration officials asserted the Iranian nuclear program was “obliterated” after the June 2025 strike against multiple Iranian nuclear sites, but maintained Iran posed a threat to the U.S. without providing specific details. Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously said the U.S. launched strikes because an Iranian response to Israel’s planned attack could have potentially targeted American forces.
The New York Times reported April 7 that, despite skepticism from administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, Trump was convinced to launch strikes against Iran during a Feb. 11 visit to the White House by Netanyahu.
Former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent resigned March 17 over the conflict, claiming the war began “due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.” He also argued in an X post that Iran posed no “imminent threat” to the United States.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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