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

0:00 I spoke with the Israeli prime minister about where the war

0:02 stands and what it would take to end the conflict.

0:05 Please listen.

0:07 Is the war with Iran over and if it isn't, who will decide when it is?

0:12 I think it accomplished a great deal,

0:14 but it's not over because there's still nuclear material,

0:17 enriched uranium that has to be taken out of Iran.

0:21 Uh there's still uh enrichment sites that have to be dismantled.

0:26 There are still proxies that Iran supports.

0:29 their ballistic missiles that they still uh want to produce.

0:32 Now, we've degraded a lot of it,

0:35 but all of that is still there and there's work to be done.

0:39 President Trump,

0:39 this war, this war cannot end until all those things are eliminated.

0:43 Well, certainly we want to get the nuclear material out.

0:46 We certainly want to get the enrichment sites dismantled.

0:49 Uh we've curbed a lot.

0:50 We've degraded a lot of the missile production sites,

0:53 but the agreement should cover all these areas, including the proxies.

0:56 Uh can it end with as President Trump has uh uh has uh led

1:03 now a blockade and economic pressure on them to do it with non-military means?

1:08 Fine.

1:08 If it can be accomplished, why not?

1:10 Uh but if not, both the United States and Israel, we both agree,

1:14 President Trump and I, that if necessary,

1:16 you can re-engage them militarily if it's necessary.

1:19 If it's necessary, how do you envision

1:22 the highlyenriched uranium will be removed from Iran?

1:26 You go in and you take it out with what?

1:29 Special forces from Israel,

1:30 special forces from the United States

1:32 working in tandem under international supervision.

1:34 How?

1:35 Well, I'm not going to talk about military means,

1:37 but the pres what President Trump has said to me, I want to go in there.

1:41 Uh, I mean, he said that publicly.

1:43 He said it uh and I think he's right.

1:44 He's very committed to this.

1:46 Uh, and uh, and I think it can be done physically.

1:49 That's not the problem.

1:50 Uh, if you have an agreement and you go in and you take it out, why not?

1:55 That's the best way.

1:56 What if there isn't an agreement?

1:57 Can it be taken out by force?

2:00 Well, you're going to ask me these questions.

2:02 I'm going to dodge them.

2:03 So, you can ask me that second time,

2:05 third time, and I'll dodge it second time, third time.

2:10 Mhm.

2:10 Because I'm not going to talk about our our military uh possibilities,

2:15 plans, or anything of the kind.

2:17 Mhm.

2:17 And I think you understand that.

2:18 I do understand that.

2:19 But it's of great concern to the American people and the people of Israel how

2:24 long this will take and absent an agreement

2:28 what kind of thing should they prepare for?

2:30 I think the most important thing for people to understand in America

2:34 and in Israel I think they do understand it but for in the world

2:37 in Europe you have to understand Iran that declares not merely death

2:43 to Israel but death to America that's what they want to achieve.

2:46 They don't not only want to kill Americans, which they have,

2:50 killed and wounded them by the thousands,

2:53 burned up your embassies, uh killed your marines,

2:57 burn your flags, try to assassinate the president of the United

3:01 States and your and some of your chief uh officials several times.

3:06 They're committed to destroy America.

3:09 They say that.

3:10 Okay.

3:10 Their commitment involved their uh plans over the years to build

3:16 nuclear bombs and the means to deliver them to the United States.

3:21 They were very close to developing a nuclear bomb.

3:24 Okay?

3:25 Very close.

3:26 In fact, if we hadn't done the two military operations that we did,

3:30 they'd have a bomb within now or within a month or two.

3:34 Now, you don't want a fanatic regime like that that hates America.

3:39 that is has no compunction of murdering its own citizen,

3:44 murdering and wounding tens of thousands of its own citizens.

3:48 You don't want them to have nuclear weapons.

3:51 That's what prompted President Trump and me to go out and stop them,

3:55 prevent them from having that.

3:56 And I'm just trying to get at how long is it going to take to achieve that aim.

4:01 I'm not going to give a timetable to it,

4:03 but I'm going to say that's a terrifically important

4:06 mission because you don't want Iran to have ballistic

4:11 missiles to reach any city in the United States

4:14 with nuclear warheads because no American would be safe.

4:17 And I think President Trump understood that from the start.

4:20 I don't think I know that he understood that from years of discussion with this.

4:25 you know, uh I came to uh the United States in 2000 uh um uh 2016, right?

4:35 Right before the elections because I I made it

4:38 a habit to meet with the candidates of both parties either in America or here.

4:44 So I go to 2016, it's right before the elections and I meet

4:48 with uh Hillary Clinton and then I meet with Donald Trump in New York.

4:53 The first thing he says to me in Trump Tower is,

4:57 "We can't let Iran have nuclear weapons.

4:59 I'm going to walk out of that terrible

5:01 Iran deal." Jump forward eight years later,

5:06 there's another election.

5:08 Uh, I meet President Biden and Kla Harris in Washington.

5:12 And then I go and meet Donald Trump in Mara Laga.

5:15 And the first thing he says to me even before I sit down,

5:20 he says, "You know, BB, we cannot let Iran have nuclear weapons.

5:25 I'm not going to let it happen." So, he's infused with this mission.

5:30 What do you think changed from the first term to the second term?

5:33 Because it was a phrase he spoke to you in 2016.

5:36 It's action he took with your government now.

5:40 Well, I think in the first term he believed

5:42 as did the I that we could enforce sanctions, a sanctions regime, which he did.

5:48 Uh and and basically bring Iran to its knees, which is a phrase he used.

5:53 Yeah.

5:53 Well, they stopped exporting oil, you know, just reduced it completely.

5:58 He hoped that that would uh work and it did for a while,

6:02 but it didn't really stop them.

6:03 It it uh I would say it it slowed them down, but it didn't stop them.

6:09 Then they went back to enrichment.

6:11 They went back to full their full

6:13 efforts on nuclear to develop a nuclear weapon.

6:16 And what changes that they were very close to achieving it.

6:21 That's what prompted the action.

6:22 And it amazes me frankly, you know,

6:25 when we talk about it say people ask what is the purpose of this war?

6:28 What's the point?

6:29 The point is not to let a regime committed

6:32 to the destruction of the United States and Israel.

6:34 They call us the little Satan.

6:36 They call you the big Satan.

6:37 What do you do with the big Satan?

6:39 You have to remove it from the world.

6:41 That's their doctrine.

6:42 Not to let such a regime have

6:45 nuclear weapons because it's it's very different if

6:48 I don't know, let me pick a country uh if Holland has nuclear weapons.

6:51 It's not the same as the

6:53 Ayatollah regime that calls for your destruction having nuclear weapons.

6:57 So that's what prompted this these military operations.

7:01 Mr.

7:02 Prime Minister, what is your evaluation

7:03 of the state of the Iranian regime today?

7:06 Is it just as well composed, wellorganized, and fanatical as you just described?

7:12 I think it's at the weakest point it's been since

7:14 the uh since it uh hijacked the Iranian people into since 1979.

7:19 Yeah, absolutely.

7:20 It's the weakest it's been.

7:21 The hardliners are just as hardlined as they were before,

7:25 but there are fissures in the uh in the regime.

7:27 I mean there there cracks in it because they're you

7:31 know they've been hit very hard by our joint efforts,

7:34 our joint military efforts.

7:36 We destroyed a lot of their uh their money machine, their prochemical plants,

7:41 their steel plants in which they produce these the raw

7:44 material for these rockets and and ballistic missiles and other things.

7:49 we we hit them very hard but uh and so

7:53 it causes now a debate within this uh with this regime.

7:58 Some say, you know, let's keep on, you know, let's keep on trucking.

8:02 And others are saying, you know, if we do,

8:04 our economy will collapse and the people will rise.

8:07 That's their real fear.

8:08 The people will rise because they're really afraid of the Iranian people.

8:12 So, they are, you know, there's there's a debate.

8:15 They're weak.

8:16 They're certainly weaker than they were before, but it's not over.

8:19 And the jury is still out.

8:20 I'm the first one to say it.

8:23 former US national security adviser in the first Trump

8:25 turn and CBS News contributor HR McMaster joins me now.

8:28 HR I'm always glad to have you with us.

8:30 Uh you watched the interview, you've seen what we just played,

8:33 your reaction to what you heard from the prime minister.

8:36 Hey Major, great to be with you.

8:37 Hey, great interview.

8:38 I'm glad that we got a chance to hear from Prime Minister Netanyahu.

8:42 Hey, I you know I I I agree with the guy.

8:44 You when you look at the nature of the Iranian regime,

8:47 its permanent hostility, you know, to the United States, Israel,

8:51 its Arab neighbors, the damage, the suffering,

8:54 the death uh and destruction that they've inflicted on so many for 47 years.

8:59 I agree that this is really a campaign to end a war rather than,

9:04 you know, a new war itself.

9:06 So, I think that was a really important point.

9:08 And and also Major I I agree with this assessment of the weakness of the regime.

9:12 I mean so much of the reporting has been

9:15 about like gosh how strong they are and everything.

9:17 Well I mean I I think from the perspective of Ayatollah

9:20 Ham and and and the leadership there not very strong.

9:24 Of course there's been a great deal of upward mobility you

9:27 know in in the uh in in the Islamic revolutionary guards

9:30 core ranks and the ranks of the government uh because so

9:33 many of them have been taken out by the initial phase.

9:35 If you look at the attrition on their military

9:38 as well as on their industrial base now,

9:40 the effects the economic effects of the of of the blockade

9:45 on um on Iranian ports are losing about $450 million a day.

9:49 Unemployment is skyrocketing, hyperinflation.

9:53 I think they are in a profoundly weak position.

9:56 But what they're encouraged by Major is they

9:59 think they can maybe affect our will right

10:02 by by these attacks essentially on the global economy

10:05 and on the Gulf States economic model and so forth.

10:08 You heard HR my conversation with the prime

10:10 minister about highlyenriched uranium inside Iran.

10:14 How to get it out which he identified as a preeminent priority.

10:18 The only way to guarantee that this nuclear ambition

10:21 of Iran is ended is to get that highlyenriched uranium out.

10:25 How difficult is that going to be?

10:28 Well, you know, it it'd be difficult and it'd be lengthy.

10:30 I mean, this there's not you can't do like a quick strike,

10:33 you know, and get it out.

10:34 I mean, if if you knew exactly where it was, which I think we probably do,

10:38 uh you would you would have to you

10:39 would have to secure a broader objective area,

10:42 probably including an airfield, you know,

10:44 and and and fly in some of the capabilities to to get it out.

10:48 You'd have to dig it out.

10:48 Then you have to have specialized teams remove it.

10:52 remember when Kazakhstan when when Ukraine others you know gave

10:57 up their enriched uranium at the end of the cold

11:01 war often times it took months to extract

11:05 that material that was already in containers and so forth

11:09 and that was on a voluntary basis HR if

11:11 this isn't voluntary this is a messy military situation straight up

11:16 it is and I think this is why President

11:18 Trump is increasing the the coercion of the Iranian regime.

11:22 I think really what he wants to do is to get

11:25 it out by ascent to have the the Iranian say, "Okay, hey, enough of this.

11:30 I I we for a nuclear weapon.

11:33 We'll go to to no enrichment.

11:34 We'll agree to that and you can extract,

11:37 you know, this,000 pounds." Now, of course,

11:39 it's a lot less than than enriched materials

11:41 that were in the former Soviet states, right?

11:44 But it's it's buried.

11:45 You know, you got to dig it out.

11:47 Uh and then you're going to have to to fly it out.

11:49 And if you're doing that in a contested way, you know,

11:51 this is a a major and a protracted, you know, military operation.

11:55 HR, as you know, this is a global economic conversation.

11:58 You also are well aware that President Trump travels

12:01 to Beijing later this week to meet with Xiinping, the leader of China.

12:05 I want to play for you what I asked

12:07 the prime minister about what we picked up while

12:09 we were in Israel from various sources about nervousness

12:13 within Israel about continued military support from China to Iran.

12:19 Please listen.

12:20 I'd like to ask you about what you know because

12:23 in our conversations here the last couple of days we

12:26 picked up some interesting suggestions about this about China providing

12:31 materially valuable military support to what remains of the Iranian regime.

12:40 True.

12:40 China gave certain amount of support on particular components of uh

12:47 uh missile manufacturing but I can't say uh more than that.

12:53 Does that disturb you?

12:55 But I didn't like it.

12:56 But I I I think that uh I think that if China weighs its interest,

13:03 does it really want to have Iran controlling

13:07 the waterways to supply the energy that China needs?

13:12 Would it not prefer to have open waterways

13:14 that are not subjected to this kind of violent blackmail?

13:19 Uh you know, not everything is a zero sum game.

13:22 uh just as uh you know if you look about you

13:25 think about it you know I'm talking about the brilliant future

13:27 of AI but there's dangers in AI a lot of dangers

13:32 uh it's not it's not just a simple proposition so you have

13:35 to advance the benefits and contain the dangers would it not

13:39 make sense and I'm sure it will for President Trump and President

13:43 Xi in their upcoming meeting to talk about advancing humanity's benefits out

13:49 of AI but jointly controlling the dangers that could be quite frightening.

13:55 So, you know, it's not everything is a zero- sum game,

13:57 and I don't think everything is a zero- sum game when it comes to uh to Iran.

14:04 Do you really want to have a fanatic regime

14:07 with nuclear weapons that is committed to Islamist revolutionary revolutions?

14:13 That's what Iran's constitution says.

14:16 We're committed to export the China.

14:19 So, China, I think, should should think about

14:22 cuz it's apparently doing it right now.

14:24 Could be.

14:24 Could be.

14:25 I don't want to speak for China.

14:26 I don't want to speak also.

14:27 But you have eyes on this.

14:32 Yeah.

14:32 Well, you know, um, but I also have a closed mouth when necessary.

14:39 HR, evaluate that answer right there.

14:42 Hey, I'm so glad you asked it.

14:44 He was tiptoeing around it.

14:45 He should be more direct.

14:46 you know, he's typically not somebody who's going to beat around the bush.

14:49 But hey, China's providing all kinds of support uh to Iran.

14:53 Of course, China's the reason why the the regime's on life

14:55 support to begin with, because it's buying 90% of Iran's oil exports.

15:00 It's also helping Iran evade sanctions in all kinds of ways, you know,

15:04 with its ghost flee with these cutouts of of uh of companies,

15:09 you know, front companies to to launder their money.

15:12 Uh, I mean, so China, China is is a main sponsor of Iran.

15:16 They entered into a comprehensive strategic partnership with Iran in 2021.

15:21 And hey, Major, going all the way back to the 80s,

15:24 they've been giving them missile capabilities.

15:27 Actually, HR, what does it tell you that he's tiptoeing around those facts?

15:32 I know.

15:32 It tells me that he's reluctant to call out this broader axis of aggressors.

15:38 He was like that with Russia for a long time when Russia

15:41 was playing the role of arsonist and firemen in the Syrian civil war.

15:46 I think because you know Israel fears more than anything being isolated, right?

15:50 I mean that's a you know they're fighting for their lives.

15:53 All right.

15:53 They've been fighting a six-front war you know since since October 7th, 2023.

15:58 So he's trying to to he's trying to argue to Xiinping,

16:01 hey this isn't in your interest but Xiinping is on the side of Iran.

16:07 I mean just in February of this year Major the the Chinese,

16:11 Russians and Iranians did a joint naval exercise

16:14 right uh in in the in the Persian Gulf.

16:16 HR McMaster always a pleasure.

16:18 Thank you sir.

16:19 Great to see