Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran in Jerusalem on March 19, 2026.
Ronen Zvulun | reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the war with Iran “is not over”, as the US and Israel still aim to end Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
“There is still nuclear material, enriched uranium, that has to be taken out of Iran,” he said in a taped interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday night. “There are still enrichment sites that have to be destroyed, there are still some proxies that Iran supports, there are still some ballistic missiles that they still want to produce… there’s work to be done.”
Pressed on how the US and Israel would remove the nuclear material, Netanyahu said: “You go in, and you take it out.”
Netanyahu’s comments come ahead of President Donald Trump’s expected visit to China later this week, where he is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping. The war and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran have increased global energy costs and caused gas prices in the US to rise sharply.
Washington and Tehran are trying to negotiate a peace deal through mediators in Pakistan, but the agreement is still incomplete.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday rejected Iran’s counter-proposal to the US proposal to end the war, calling it “completely unacceptable”. in a post on true social.
wall street journal Iran’s latest response was detailed on Sunday.
According to the Journal, Iran did not agree to US demands regarding its nuclear program and its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, instead seeking separate nuclear talks and the requirement to dilute some of its highly enriched uranium and ship the rest to a third country. The Journal said the uranium would be returned to Iran if the US pulls out of the deal.
In addition, the US would end its blockade of Iranian ports, while in return, Tehran would open the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic.
The US wants assurances that Iran will end its nuclear program under any peace deal. Iran reportedly agreed to suspend uranium enrichment, but also refused to dismantle its nuclear facilities for a period shorter than the 20-year moratorium proposed by the US, the Journal reports.