War not over as Iran still has nuclear materials, Netanyahu says

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]I spoke with the Israeli prime minister about where the war stands and what it would take to end the conflict. Please listen.

[00:00:06]>> Is the war with Iran over and if it isn't, who will decide when it is?

[00:00:12]>> I think it accomplished a great deal, but it's not over because there's still nuclear material, enriched uranium that has to be taken out of Iran. Uh there's still uh enrichment sites that have to be dismantled. There are still proxies that Iran supports. their ballistic missiles that they still uh want to produce. Now, we've degraded a lot of it, but all of that is still there and there's work to be done.

[00:00:39]>> President Trump, >> this war, this war cannot end until all those things are eliminated.

[00:00:43]>> Well, certainly we want to get the nuclear material out. We certainly want to get the enrichment sites dismantled.

[00:00:49]Uh we've curbed a lot. We've degraded a lot of the missile production sites, but the agreement should cover all these areas, including the proxies. Uh can it end with as President Trump has uh uh has uh led now a blockade and economic pressure on them to do it with non-military means? Fine. If it can be accomplished, why not? Uh but if not, both the United States and Israel, we both agree, President Trump and I, that if necessary, you can re-engage them militarily if it's necessary.

[00:01:19]>> If it's necessary, how do you envision the highlyenriched uranium will be removed from Iran?

[00:01:26]You go in and you take it out >> with what? Special forces from Israel, special forces from the United States working in tandem under international supervision. How?

[00:01:35]>> Well, I'm not going to talk about military means, but the pres what President Trump has said to me, I want to go in there. Uh, I mean, he said that publicly. He said it uh and I think he's right. He's very committed to this. Uh, and uh, and I think it can be done physically. That's not the problem. Uh, if you have an agreement and you go in and you take it out, why not? That's the best way.

[00:01:56]>> What if there isn't an agreement? Can it be taken out by force?

[00:02:00]>> Well, you're going to ask me these questions. I'm going to dodge them. So, you can ask me that second time, third time, and I'll dodge it second time, third time.

[00:02:07]>> Mhm.

[00:02:10]>> Because I'm not going to talk about our our military uh possibilities, plans, or anything of the kind.

[00:02:16]>> Mhm.

[00:02:17]>> And I think you understand that.

[00:02:18]>> I do understand that. But it's of great concern to the American people and the people of Israel how long this will take and absent an agreement what kind of thing should they prepare for?

[00:02:30]>> I think the most important thing for people to understand in America and in Israel I think they do understand it but for in the world in Europe you have to understand Iran that declares not merely death to Israel but death to America that's what they want to achieve. They don't not only want to kill Americans, which they have, killed and wounded them by the thousands, burned up your embassies, uh killed your marines, burn your flags, try to assassinate the president of the United States and your and some of your chief uh officials several times. They're committed to destroy America. They say that. Okay.

[00:03:10]Their commitment involved their uh plans over the years to build nuclear bombs and the means to deliver them to the United States. They were very close to developing a nuclear bomb. Okay? Very close. In fact, if we hadn't done the two military operations that we did, they'd have a bomb within now or within a month or two. Now, you don't want a fanatic regime like that that hates America. that is has no compunction of murdering its own citizen, murdering and wounding tens of thousands of its own citizens. You don't want them to have nuclear weapons. That's what prompted President Trump and me to go out and stop them, prevent them from having that.

[00:03:56]>> And I'm just trying to get at how long is it going to take to achieve that aim.

[00:04:01]I'm not going to give a timetable to it, but I'm going to say that's a terrifically important mission because you don't want Iran to have ballistic missiles to reach any city in the United States with nuclear warheads because no American would be safe. And I think President Trump understood that from the start. I don't think I know that he understood that from years of discussion with this. you know, uh I came to uh the United States in 2000 uh um uh 2016, right? Right before the elections because I I made it a habit to meet with the candidates of both parties >> either in America or here. So I go to 2016, it's right before the elections and I meet with uh Hillary Clinton and then I meet with Donald Trump in New York. The first thing he says to me in Trump Tower is, "We can't let Iran have nuclear weapons. I'm going to walk out of that terrible Iran deal."

[00:05:03]Jump forward eight years later, there's another election. Uh, I meet President Biden and Kla Harris in Washington. And then I go and meet Donald Trump in Mara Laga. And the first thing he says to me even before I sit down, he says, "You know, BB, we cannot let Iran have nuclear weapons. I'm not going to let it happen." So, he's infused with this mission.

[00:05:29]>> What do you think changed from the first term to the second term? Because it was a phrase he spoke to you in 2016. It's action he took with your government now.

[00:05:40]Well, I think in the first term he believed as did the I that we could enforce sanctions, a sanctions regime, which he did. Uh and and basically bring Iran to >> its knees, which is a phrase he used.

[00:05:52]>> Yeah. Well, they stopped exporting oil, you know, just reduced it completely. He hoped that that would uh work and it did for a while, but it didn't really stop them. It it uh I would say it it slowed them down, but it didn't stop them. Then they went back to enrichment. They went back to full their full efforts on nuclear to develop a nuclear weapon. And what changes that they were very close to achieving it. That's what prompted the action. And it amazes me frankly, you know, when we talk about it say people ask what is the purpose of this war? What's the point? The point is not to let a regime committed to the destruction of the United States and Israel. They call us the little Satan.

[00:06:36]They call you the big Satan. What do you do with the big Satan? You have to remove it from the world. That's their doctrine. Not to let such a regime have nuclear weapons because it's it's very different if >> I don't know, let me pick a country uh if Holland has nuclear weapons. It's not the same as the >> Ayatollah regime >> that calls for your destruction having nuclear weapons. So that's what prompted this these military operations.

[00:07:01]>> Mr. Prime Minister, what is your evaluation of the state of the Iranian regime today? Is it just as well composed, wellorganized, and fanatical as you just described?

[00:07:12]>> I think it's at the weakest point it's been since the uh since it uh hijacked the Iranian people into since 1979.

[00:07:19]>> Yeah, absolutely. It's the weakest it's been. The hardliners are just as hardlined as they were before, but there are fissures in the uh in the regime. I mean there there cracks in it because they're you know they've been hit very hard by our joint efforts, our joint military efforts. We destroyed a lot of their uh their money machine, their prochemical plants, their steel plants in which they produce these the raw material for these rockets and and ballistic missiles and other things. we we hit them very hard but uh and so it causes now a debate within this uh with this regime. Some say, you know, let's keep on, you know, let's keep on trucking. And others are saying, you know, if we do, our economy will collapse and the people will rise.

[00:08:07]That's their real fear. The people will rise because they're really afraid of the Iranian people. So, they are, you know, there's there's a debate. They're weak. They're certainly weaker than they were before, but it's not over. And the jury is still out. I'm the first one to say it.

[00:08:23]former US national security adviser in the first Trump turn and CBS News contributor HR McMaster joins me now. HR I'm always glad to have you with us. Uh you watched the interview, you've seen what we just played, your reaction to what you heard from the prime minister.

[00:08:36]>> Hey Major, great to be with you. Hey, great interview. I'm glad that we got a chance to hear from Prime Minister Netanyahu. Hey, I you know I I I agree with the guy. You when you look at the nature of the Iranian regime, its permanent hostility, you know, to the United States, Israel, its Arab neighbors, the damage, the suffering, the death uh and destruction that they've inflicted on so many for 47 years. I agree that this is really a campaign to end a war rather than, you know, a new war itself. So, I think that was a really important point. And and also Major I I agree with this assessment of the weakness of the regime. I mean so much of the reporting has been about like gosh how strong they are and everything. Well I mean I I think from the perspective of Ayatollah Ham and and and the leadership there not very strong. Of course there's been a great deal of upward mobility you know in in the uh in in the Islamic revolutionary guards core ranks and the ranks of the government uh because so many of them have been taken out by the initial phase. If you look at the attrition on their military as well as on their industrial base now, the effects the economic effects of the of of the blockade on um on Iranian ports are losing about $450 million a day.

[00:09:49]Unemployment is skyrocketing, hyperinflation.

[00:09:53]I think they are in a profoundly weak position. But what they're encouraged by Major is they think they can maybe affect our will right by by these attacks essentially on the global economy and on the Gulf States economic model and so forth.

[00:10:08]>> You heard HR my conversation with the prime minister about highlyenriched uranium inside Iran. How to get it out which he identified as a preeminent priority. The only way to guarantee that this nuclear ambition of Iran is ended is to get that highlyenriched uranium out. How difficult is that going to be?

[00:10:28]>> Well, you know, it it'd be difficult and it'd be lengthy. I mean, this there's not you can't do like a quick strike, you know, and get it out. I mean, if if you knew exactly where it was, which I think we probably do, uh you would you would have to you would have to secure a broader objective area, probably including an airfield, you know, and and and fly in some of the capabilities to to get it out. You'd have to dig it out.

[00:10:48]Then you have to have specialized teams remove it. remember when Kazakhstan when when Ukraine others you know gave up their enriched uranium at the end of the cold war often times it took months to extract that material that was already in containers and so forth >> and that was on a voluntary basis HR if this isn't voluntary this is a messy military situation straight up >> it is and I think this is why President Trump is increasing the the coercion of the Iranian regime. I think really what he wants to do is to get it out by ascent to have the the Iranian say, "Okay, hey, enough of this. I I we for a nuclear weapon. We'll go to to no enrichment. We'll agree to that and you can extract, you know, this,000 pounds."

[00:11:38]Now, of course, it's a lot less than than enriched materials that were in the former Soviet states, right? But it's it's buried. You know, you got to dig it out. Uh and then you're going to have to to fly it out. And if you're doing that in a contested way, you know, this is a a major and a protracted, you know, military operation.

[00:11:55]>> HR, as you know, this is a global economic conversation. You also are well aware that President Trump travels to Beijing later this week to meet with Xiinping, the leader of China. I want to play for you what I asked the prime minister about what we picked up while we were in Israel from various sources about nervousness within Israel about continued military support from China to Iran. Please listen. I'd like to ask you about what you know because in our conversations here the last couple of days we picked up some interesting suggestions about this about China providing materially valuable military support to what remains of the Iranian regime.

[00:12:38]>> True.

[00:12:40]China gave certain amount of support on particular components of uh uh missile manufacturing but I can't say uh more than that.

[00:12:53]>> Does that disturb you?

[00:12:55]But I didn't like it. But I I I think that uh I think that if China weighs its interest, does it really want to have Iran controlling the waterways to supply the energy that China needs? Would it not prefer to have open waterways that are not subjected to this kind of violent blackmail? Uh you know, not everything is a zero sum game.

[00:13:22]uh just as uh you know if you look about you think about it you know I'm talking about the brilliant future of AI but there's dangers in AI a lot of dangers uh it's not it's not just a simple proposition so you have to advance the benefits and contain the dangers would it not make sense and I'm sure it will for President Trump and President Xi in their upcoming meeting to talk about advancing humanity's benefits out of AI but jointly controlling the dangers that could be quite frightening. So, you know, it's not everything is a zero- sum game, and I don't think everything is a zero- sum game when it comes to uh to Iran.

[00:14:04]Do you really want to have a fanatic regime with nuclear weapons that is committed to Islamist revolutionary revolutions? That's what Iran's constitution says. We're committed to export the China. So, China, I think, should should think about >> cuz it's apparently doing it right now.

[00:14:24]>> Could be. Could be. I don't want to speak for China. I don't want to speak also.

[00:14:27]>> But you have eyes on this.

[00:14:31]>> Yeah. Well, you know, um, but I also have a closed mouth when necessary.

[00:14:39]>> HR, evaluate that answer right there.

[00:14:42]>> Hey, I'm so glad you asked it. He was tiptoeing around it. He should be more direct. you know, he's typically not somebody who's going to beat around the bush. But hey, China's providing all kinds of support uh to Iran. Of course, China's the reason why the the regime's on life support to begin with, because it's buying 90% of Iran's oil exports.

[00:15:00]It's also helping Iran evade sanctions in all kinds of ways, you know, with its ghost flee with these cutouts of of uh of companies, you know, front companies to to launder their money. Uh, I mean, so China, China is is a main sponsor of Iran. They entered into a comprehensive strategic partnership with Iran in 2021.

[00:15:21]And hey, Major, going all the way back to the 80s, they've been giving them missile capabilities. Actually, >> HR, what does it tell you that he's tiptoeing around those facts?

[00:15:32]>> I know. It tells me that he's reluctant to call out this broader axis of aggressors. He was like that with Russia for a long time when Russia was playing the role of arsonist and firemen in the Syrian civil war. I think because you know Israel fears more than anything being isolated, right? I mean that's a you know they're fighting for their lives. All right. They've been fighting a six-front war you know since since October 7th, 2023. So he's trying to to he's trying to argue to Xiinping, hey this isn't in your interest but Xiinping is on the side of Iran. I mean just in February of this year Major the the Chinese, Russians and Iranians did a joint naval exercise right uh in in the in the Persian Gulf.

[00:16:16]>> HR McMaster always a pleasure. Thank you sir.

[00:16:19]Great to see