Former Israeli PM Naftali Bennett tells Brian Kilmeade that Iran is leveraging nuclear talks to buy time while rebuilding its nuclear infrastructure. He argues Iran is a ‘terror octopus’ and the US military presence is vital for regional stability.
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Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett isn’t convinced that the Iranian regime is sincere about ongoing talks with the United States about its nuclear program.
“I think Iran is going to try and do what they always do, which is buy time until they’re out of the water,” Bennett told Fox News host Brian Kilmeade Thursday on “Fox & Friends.”
Thursday’s talks, mediated by Oman, were held in Geneva and centered around Iran’s nuclear program. They came as the United States has built up a significant amount of military assets in the Middle East.
Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Hamad Al Busaidi, President Donald Trump’s Special Representative for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff and U.S. negotiator Jared Kushner meet ahead of the U.S.-Iran talks, in Muscat, the capital of Oman, on Feb. 06, 2026. (Oman Foreign Ministry/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Oman’s foreign minister said after Thursday’s meeting that “significant progress” was made and “discussions on a technical level will take place next week in Vienna,” according to reporting from Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst.
President Donald Trump made the desired outcome of the talks clear during his State of the Union address, emphasizing that he “will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror … to have a nuclear weapon.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pictured sitting next to a senior military official in Iran. (Getty Images)
Former Israeli Prime Minister Bennett believes the regime is set on its nuclear ambitions.
“They are rebuilding nuclear capabilities as we speak,” he said, pointing to recent observed activity near the Natanz facility, which was struck in June 2025 by Israeli and US forces.
The rubble of the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant at Iran’s Natanz nuclear site is seen on the left on Dec. 3, 2025. On the right, in a satellite image taken on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, a new roof is seen over the building. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
“A nation that does not seek nuclear weapons doesn’t need any enrichment within its country,” he said. “The only reason a regime is doing it is because it wants nuclear weapons.”
TRUMP’S IRAN ULTIMATUM ENTERS DECISIVE STRETCH AFTER STATE OF THE UNION
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi declared Tuesday on X that “Iran will under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon,” saying that Iranians have the right to harness “peaceful nuclear technology for our people.”
Bennett does not believe those claims.
“As of now, Iran is pursuing intercontinental ballistic missiles,” he argued, clarifying that “in simple English,” they are missiles that could land in “New York or Tennessee or California.”
“The only reason a nation develops this sort of thing is for a nuclear war tip,” he said. “This is the time to act.”
Israel’s 13th Prime Minister argued that “there will be no point in history where Iran is at such a vulnerable point,” in the wake of anti-government protests that left thousands dead.
Bennett said the regime murdered “32,000 of its own citizens,” and thousands of Americans and Israelis over the years through its proxies that he calls a “terror octopus.”
One of those octopus arms is on Israel’s northern border, in the form of Lebanese Iranian-backed group Hezbollah, which was crippled by Israeli strikes and the 2024 assassination of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
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“Do you believe Hezbollah won’t get involved, or do you believe you’re going to be attacked by what’s left of Hamas and Hezbollah, should the shooting start?” 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 it’s a price that we are willing to pay in order to remove this threat from the world.”
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