3 minutes of readingUpdated: Mar 3, 2026 08:46 am IST
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that he teamed up with US President Donald Trump and attacked Iran first because Ayotollah Khameini’s “unreformable” regime was building nuclear weapons sites and underground bunkers.
Netanyahu claimed that Iran was accelerating the construction of new nuclear facilities that would soon be too fortified to destroy. He said this demanded immediate military action.
In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Netanyahu alleged that Tehran had begun establishing new sites, including underground bunkers, designed to protect both its ballistic missile infrastructure and its nuclear program. According to him, these facilities will be untouchable in a matter of months.
My statement before the special session of the @IAEAorg Board of Governors this morning on the situation in the Middle East.https://t.co/R8z6qasLhA pic.twitter.com/RMCgTjuumd
—Rafael Mariano Grossi (@rafaelmgrossi) March 2, 2026
“The reason we had to act now is because they (Iran) were… after we attacked their nuclear facilities and their ballistic missile program, you think they would learn a lesson. But they didn’t because they are irreformable; they are totally fanatical about this… the goal of destroying the United States,” Netanyahu said.
He argued that delaying action would have permanently closed the window to respond. If it came to that point, he warned, Iran would have been in a position to threaten Israel, pressure the United States and use its capabilities as leverage against other nations. In his comments, Netanyahu suggested that not acting now would allow Tehran to gain strategic immunity.
Concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been central to the justification offered by Israel and the United States for their recent attacks. Both governments have maintained that Iran was getting closer to acquiring the capability to eventually build a nuclear weapon.
Despite those claims, there are questions about the extent of the damage inflicted so far. Following joint military action in June, much of Iran’s atomic infrastructure appears to remain intact.
Did Israel and the United States attack Tehran’s nuclear weapons facilities?
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said on Monday that there was no evidence that nuclear facilities had been attacked in the latest round of attacks. “We have no indication that any of the nuclear facilities, including the Bushehr nuclear power plant, the Tehran research reactor or other nuclear fuel cycle facilities, have been damaged or hit,” he said.
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“Diplomacy is difficult, but never impossible. Nuclear diplomacy is even more difficult, but it is never impossible,” he added.
Which Middle Eastern countries have nuclear research sites?
Grossi further said: “Iran and many other countries in the region that have been targeted by military attacks have operational nuclear power plants and nuclear research reactors, as well as associated fuel storage sites, increasing the threat to nuclear security.”
According to the IAEA, the United Arab Emirates has four operating nuclear reactors; Jordan and Syria have operational nuclear research reactors.
Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which have also been attacked, use nuclear applications of some kind.
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