Netanyahu Insists Iran War To Continue Until Uranium Is ‘Physically’ Removed

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a 60 Minutes interview which aired Sunday that President Trump still wants Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium removed. Trump on Monday warned that the Iran ceasefire is on ‘massive life support’.

Netanyahu told CBS show host Major Garrett that the military campaign had achieved “a great deal” but insisted additional operations remain necessary.  That’s when he described, “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.”

“There are still proxies that Iran supports,” Netanyahu added. “There are ballistic missiles that they still want to produce. Now, we’ve degraded a lot of it, but all that is still there, and there’s work to be done.”

Clearly the Israeli prime minister is trying to hold the line of maximalist demands on Iran, even as it seems Washington is trying to extricate itself from the conflict while still seeking to present a narrative of ‘victory’.

It is true that Trump has still not let up on insisting that what he calls all the “nuclear dust” must be removed from Iran, amid Tehran’s repeat objections to this. This lone issue is primarily what has collapsed peace negotiations at this point.

Garrett pressed Netanyahu on just how the removal of Iranian nuclear material would be accomplished, given such a gambit would be obvious recipe for prolonging and even escalating the war.

“With what?” Garrett posed. “Special Forces from Israel, Special Forces from the United States working in tandem under international supervision? How?”

Netanyahu dodged the question, amid growing criticism among the American public that Washington is doing the bidding of Israel in starting and prolonging Operation Epic Fury:

“Well, I’m not gonna talk about military means, but what President Trump has said to me, ‘I want to go in there,’ I mean, he’s said that publicly. He’s said it and I think he’s right. He’s very committed to this. 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.

The below segment has raised some serious questions: Bibi trying to dictate US foreign policy?…

“Well, you’re gonna ask me these questions. I’m gonna dodge them, so you can ask me that second time, third time, and I’ll dodge it second time, third time,” the prime minister replied.

At one point Netanyahu had said: “I think it can be done physically.”

While there remains the distinct possibility that this conflict could morph into an eventual ground war, US officials have downplayed the potential of Israeli boots on the ground. And yet Washington hasn’t discounted putting American soldiers in harm’s way. This is has resulted in anger and frustration among some sectors of the Right in the US.

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Below is the full interview: