Naftali Bennett claims Iran is rebuilding nuclear capabilities

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is not convinced that the Iranian regime is sincere about ongoing talks with the United States over its nuclear program.

“I think Iran is going to try to do what they’ve always done, which is to buy time until they come out of the water,” Bennett told Fox News host Brian Kilmeade on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday.

Thursday’s talks, mediated by Oman, were held in Geneva and focused around Iran’s nuclear program. These come at a time when the United States is building a significant military presence in the Middle East.

Oman’s foreign minister said after Thursday’s meeting that “significant progress” had been made and that “talks at a technical level will be held in Vienna next week”. Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst reports.

President Donald Trump made clear the desired outcome of the talks in his State of the Union address, emphasizing that he would “never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terrorism to have a nuclear weapon.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was photographed sitting next to a senior military officer in Iran. (Getty Images)

Former Israeli Prime Minister Bennett believes the regime is pursuing nuclear ambitions.

“They are rebuilding nuclear capabilities as we speak,” he said, pointing to activities observed near the Natanz facility, which was hit by Israeli and US forces in June 2025.

The wreckage of the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Facility at Iran’s Natanz nuclear site is seen at left on December 3, 2025. In the satellite image taken on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, a new roof can be seen on the building on the right. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

“A nation that does not seek nuclear weapons does not need any enrichment in its own country,” he said. “The only reason a regime would do this is because it wants nuclear weapons.”

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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi He declared on Tuesday at X that He said Iranians had the right to benefit from “peaceful nuclear technology for our people”, adding: “Iran will not develop nuclear weapons under any circumstances.”

Bennett does not believe these claims.

“Iran is currently pursuing intercontinental ballistic missiles,” he argued, explaining in “plain English” that these were missiles that could land in “New York, Tennessee or California.”

“The only reason a country would develop something like this is to warn of nuclear war,” he said. “It’s time to act.”

Israel’s 13th Prime Minister argued that “there will never be a point in history where Iran is at such a vulnerable point” following anti-government protests that left thousands dead.

Bennett said the regime has killed “32,000 of its own citizens” and thousands of Americans and Israelis over the years through its proxies, whom he called “terror octopuses.”

One of these octopus weapons is on Israel’s northern border, in the form of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Iran-backed group that has been crippled by Israeli attacks and the assassination of its leader Hassan Nasrallah in 2024.

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“Do you believe that Hezbollah will not be involved in this, or do you believe that if the shooting starts, it will be attacked by Hamas and the remnants of Hezbollah?” Kilmeade asked Bennett.

“I don’t know. We have to be prepared one way or another,” Bennett said. “The 10 million Israelis living here in Israel, we are the boots on the ground of the free world.”

“But we understand that this is a price we are willing to pay to remove this threat from the world.”

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