Every few years for the past three decades, Netanyahu has almost comically preached that the window to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon was closing. Yet just last summer, at the end of the so-called 12-day war, U.S. President Donald Trump said that unprecedented U.S. strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program. No evidence suggests that Tehran has been anywhere close to building a nuclear weapon since then.
This time around, Netanyahu was correct that a window was closing—several windows, in fact. But none of them had to do with Iranian nuclear ambitions. They had much more to do with Israeli and U.S. politics.
This op-ed was published in Foreign Policy on March 10, 2026. To read more click here
Featured image credit: The White House
