US-Israel offensive on Iran will be 'quick and decisive', not an endless war, Netanyahu says

Netanyahu said the conflict triggered by US and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets would not drag on for years.

• Netanyahu: US-Israel strikes on Iran will be swift, not prolonged
• Strikes target Iran's missile and nuclear program immunity
• Operation aims to foster political change in Iran

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The joint US-Israeli military campaign against Iran would be "a quick and decisive action" and not an "endless war", though it "may take some time", Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated.

In an interview with Fox News aired Monday, Netanyahu said the conflict triggered by US and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets would not drag on for years.

"It may take some time, but it’s not going to take years," he said, describing the operation as swift and conclusive.

Netanyahu argued the strikes were urgently necessary because Iran had begun constructing new underground facilities that would soon have placed its missile and nuclear programmes beyond the reach of attack.

"They started building new sites, new places, underground bunkers, that would make their ballistic missile programs and their atomic bomb programs immune within months," he said.

"The reason that we had to act now is because after we hit their nuclear sites and their ballistic missile program… they started building new sites," he added, claiming that without immediate action future strikes would have become impossible.

"If no action was taken now, no action could be taken in the future," remarked the Israeli Prime Miniter.

Netanyahu accused Iran’s leadership of persisting with its strategic objectives despite earlier strikes.

"You’d think they’d learn a lesson, but they didn’t. Because they’re unreformable, they’re totally fanatic about this, about the goal of destroying America," he said.

Earlier in the day, speaking in Jerusalem after visiting a site hit by an Iranian missile, Netanyahu said the joint military offensive was also intended to create conditions for political change in Iran.

"That day is drawing near. And when it comes, Israel and the United States will be there, together with the Iranian people," he noted, referring to the possibility of Iranians ousting their clerical leadership. "That depends on them, we will be there," Netanyahu added.

Since the launch of strikes over the weekend, both Israeli and US leaders have stepped up rhetoric against Tehran, fuelling concerns of wider regional escalation even as Netanyahu insists the campaign will not become a prolonged war.

Meanwhile, the US is displaying conflicting views on how long the conflict with Iran could last as Israel launched a fresh wave of airstrikes Monday, widening a war that has rattled the Middle East and sent oil prices sharply higher.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has dismissed the idea of an “endless” war, while President Donald Trump said there was no fixed deadline and refused to rule out deploying US ground troops.

“Whatever the time is, it’s okay — whatever it takes,” Trump stated. “Right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks. But we have capability to go far longer than that.”

The Israel Defense Forces said it carried out a new “wave of strikes” in Tehran targeting command centers of Iran’s Interior Security and Intelligence Ministry, accusing them of suppressing anti-regime protests.

Iran responded by firing projectiles across the region after the US-Israeli assault that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei over the weekend. Explosions were reported in Israel and Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

On state television, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had “no quarrel” with neighboring countries but was “taking on the American soldiers stationed there.”

The US Department of State urged Americans to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries, citing “serious safety risks,” and advised departures via commercial flights. The US Embassy in Riyadh was struck by two drones, causing minor damage, according to Saudi authorities.

In the meantime, the US Central Command said six American service members had been killed in action as of Monday afternoon. Trump acknowledged over the weekend that “there will likely be more before it ends.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that US operations would escalate. “The hardest hits are yet to come from the US military,” he said, declining to provide tactical details.

Energy markets reacted swiftly. Brent crude jumped nearly 7% to settle at $77.74 a barrel and extended gains above $78 after an adviser to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Tehran would not allow oil to leave the region.

Gulf states, including Qatar and the UAE, are pressing for a diplomatic off-ramp to contain the conflict and limit further energy shocks, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The fighting began after three rounds of stalled negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency said diplomacy had collapsed and noted that satellite imagery shows Iran’s nuclear facilities have largely been spared in the latest strikes, despite being targeted in a previous 12-day assault in June.