Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a “historic victory” on Tuesday (June 24, 2025) after agreeing to a ceasefire with Iran and insisted that his country’s arch-foe would never achieve a nuclear weapon.
The premier’s comments, delivered in an address to the nation, came after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country was willing to return to negotiations over its nuclear programme.
Also read: Israel-Iran war updates on June 24, 2025
Mr. Pezeshkian insisted, however, that Iran would continue to “assert its legitimate rights” to the peaceful use of atomic energy.
“Iran will not have a nuclear weapon,” Mr. Netanyahu said after the ceasefire ended 12 days of deadly air and missile strikes between the arch foes.
“We have thwarted Iran’s nuclear project. And if anyone in Iran tries to rebuild it, we will act with the same determination, with the same intensity, to foil any attempt,” he added.
Israel’s strikes eventually drew in the United States, which on Sunday (June 22, 2025) hit Iran’s underground nuclear facilities with powerful “bunker-buster” bombs that Israel lacked.
After Iran retaliated with a missile attack on Monday (June 23, 2025) night targeting a U.S. base in Qatar, President Donald Trump called for de-escalation, announcing the contours of a truce deal hours later.
In a phone call Tuesday (June 24, 2025), Mr. Pezeshkian told his Emirati counterpart “to explain to them, in your dealings with the United States, that the Islamic Republic of Iran is only seeking to assert its legitimate rights”.
“It has never sought to acquire nuclear weapons and does not seek them,” he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency, adding that Iran was “ready to resolve the issues… at the negotiating table”.
Israel has said its war, which began on June 13, was aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.
Israel’s military said that its strikes had set back Iran’s nuclear programme “by years” and that the campaign against the country was now “entering a new phase”.
After Mr. Trump angrily berated both sides for early violations of the truce on Tuesday (June 24, 2025), Tehran announced it would respect the terms of the deal if Israel did the same, while Israel said it had refrained from further strikes.
Claims of victory
Before Mr. Netanyahu spoke, Israel’s government said its military had removed the “dual existential threat” of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
“We’ve set Iran’s nuclear project back by years, and the same applies to its missile programme,” Israel’s chief of staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said in a later statement.
Iran’s top security body, meanwhile, said the Islamic republic’s forces had “compelled” Israel to “unilaterally” stand down.
Its Revolutionary Guards also hailed a last-minute missile salvo fired at Israel as “a historic and unforgettable lesson to the Zionist enemy”.
Published – June 25, 2025 02:14 am IST
