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Netanyahu on 60 Minutes: "You Go In, and You Take It Out"

Evidence rating: CONFIRMED for the words, from the CBS News transcript of the interview broadcast on 10 May 2026. STRONG for the reading that the "going in" he describes is a job for American forces: Israel's own press had already said Israeli infantry would not go into Iran, and Netanyahu quoted the American president saying "I want to go in there."

The exchange​

CBS correspondent Major Garrett asked whether the war with Iran was over. Netanyahu:

"I think it accomplished a great deal, but it's not over, because there's still nuclear material, enriched uranium that has to be taken out of Iran."

Garrett: "How do you envision the highly enriched uranium will be removed from Iran?"

"You go in, and you take it out."

Garrett pressed: "With what? Special Forces from Israel, Special Forces from the United States?" Netanyahu:

"Well, I'm not gonna talk about military means, but the pres-- what President Trump has said to me, 'I want to go in there.' and I think it can be done physically."

(CBS News transcript, 10 May 2026; Israeli coverage: Jerusalem Post, 11 May 2026).

Enriched uranium is uranium processed to raise the share of the fissile isotope; at 60 percent it is a short step from bomb grade. Al Jazeera reported in March that one US option was extracting "approximately 450kg of enriched uranium" (Al Jazeera, 30 March 2026). That material is buried in tunnels at defended sites. "Going in" means soldiers on the ground at those sites, holding a perimeter, under fire, for as long as the job takes.

How it was read​

Middle East Eye headlined the interview "Netanyahu hints at US troop deployment against Iran in CBS interview," and wrote that "The Israeli leader said the use of ground troops was necessary to retrieve Iranian nuclear material but refused to give a precise timeline" (Middle East Eye, 11 May 2026). Journalist Ben Swann asked the question every American parent should ask: "after Israel already stated there would be no IDF ground troops entering Iran, does that mean American troops are expected to carry the burden of a ground war?" (Ben Swann on X, 12 May 2026).

What the Pentagon was drawing up answers Swann. A month later CNN reported that a US ground mission to seize the uranium had been prepared and then paused, with one source saying "Essentially, we'd have to invade"; in July the New York Post reported a uranium raid that "would involve thousands of ground troops storming Iran's nuclear facilities." See Kharg Island and the Uranium Raid.

The same interview, on money​

In the same broadcast Netanyahu said: "I want to draw down to zero the American financial support, the financial component of the military cooperation that we have. Because we receive $3.8 billion a year." Middle East Eye reported he floated instead a military partnership in which the US would share its weaponry with Israel. The American dollars can come down; the American soldiers are still being asked to go in.

The line he has used before​

Netanyahu's "you go in" is not new to this war. During the June 2025 war, an unnamed senior US official told Axios, as relayed on X, that "Israelis are effectively encouraging the US to engage in a ground war with Iran if an air war doesn't immobilize Iranian nuclear sites," and that the Israelis said they may "do it with humans" (MonitorX on X, 19 June 2025). Former defense minister Yoav Gallant said in June 2026 that "The ability of the US Army together with the Israeli army existed, and that was something that should have been done" (article page). See Did Israel Ask?.

Status: Benjamin Netanyahu is alive. Donald Trump is alive. Major Garrett is alive. Ben Swann is alive.

Sources​

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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