Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an interview Tuesday night, claimed that he saved Israel from an Iranian nuclear bomb that they “already had obtained,” a claim that his election rivals dismissed as a falsehood told to scare the Israeli public.

The statement, which Netanyahu made during his appearance on the right-wing Channel 14, was the first time that the premier had ever claimed that Iran had already obtained a nuclear weapon. He has long boasted of advancing policies that prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

He did not elaborate on his claim in the interview and was not pressed to explain the statement.

Netanyahu apparently either got carried away in highlighting the threat from Iran and his steps against the regime or simply misspoke, given that a source familiar with the matter told Haaretz that Netanyahu’s claim is a “complete lie.”

No previous US or Israeli intelligence assessments have previously accused Iran of already building nuclear weapons.

Instead, Iran has been accused of enriching uranium to levels with no peaceful use and of seeking the technology that would allow it to break out and develop a bomb in a very short time.

נתניהו לפני יומיים: כל עוד אני ראש ממשלה לא יהיה לאיראן נשק גרעינינתניהו אתמול: היו להם פצצות אטום חתיכת נוכל pic.twitter.com/b2EqF7SHzQ Advertisement if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" ||........

© The Times of Israel