Netanyahu says his actions thwarted Iran nuclear bomb

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Thursday that his actions delayed Iran’s nuclear program by nearly a decade, in the first response to a New York Times report that US President Donald Trump halted Israeli plans to attack Iran.

"Netanyahu has led countless secret and open actions in the campaign against Iran's nuclear program that only thanks to them Iran does not have a nuclear arsenal today," the statement said.

"These actions delayed Iran's nuclear program by about a decade, thanks to the prime minister's insistence on standing up to domestic and foreign opposition to his assertive policy against Iran."

“As the prime minister has said many times: Israel will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” the office added.

Earlier, The New York Times reported that Israel had prepared to strike Iranian nuclear facilities in May, aiming to delay Tehran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon by a year or more.

Trump ultimately chose not to support the plan, according to administration officials and others cited by the newspaper, instead opening a diplomatic track with Iran to negotiate limits on its nuclear program.