PTI
Jerusalem, Updated At: 09:28 AM Mar 04, 2026 IST
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel, together with the United States, struck Iranian targets because Tehran had resumed its nuclear programme and begun constructing new fortified facilities that would soon place those capabilities beyond reach.
Netanyahu told reporters the strikes were urgent to prevent Iran from creating underground sites that could shield its ballistic missile and nuclear efforts. “They started building new sites, new places, underground bunkers that would make their ballistic missile programme and their atomic bomb programme immune within months,” he said, adding: “If no action was taken now, no action could be taken in the future.”
He said the strikes followed an earlier phase in which Iran’s nuclear and missile infrastructure had been targeted, and that Tehran’s subsequent construction of hardened, subterranean complexes made immediate action necessary to preserve the option of striking those programmes.
Netanyahu framed the operation as a deterrent measure intended to stop a nuclear escalation by denying Tehran safe, long-term facilities for weapons development.
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