ReutersAs speculation continues over Iran’s response to a major missile attack, Israel’s prime minister’s office said Israel will listen to U.S. opinions but will make a final decision based on national interests.
The short statement this evening came in response to a Washington Post article that said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the United States he was prepared to target Iranian military facilities, not nuclear or oil facilities. .
The newspaper cited two officials as saying Netanyahu made the remark during a phone conversation with US President Joe Biden last Wednesday during which they discussed Israel’s intended retaliation.
On October 1, Iran launched approximately 200 ballistic missiles toward Israel. The Israeli military said most of the projectiles were intercepted.
At the time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran had made a “big mistake” and would “pay the price.”
An Israeli statement this evening, sent with a link to the Washington Post article, said: “We will listen to the U.S. government’s ideas, but will make final decisions based on Israel’s national security needs.” ” was written.
Anonymous sources cited by the newspaper said Israel’s retaliatory strikes were aimed at avoiding any appearance of “political interference” in the upcoming US presidential election, which is less than a month away.
Analysts say the blow to Iran’s oil facilities could push up oil prices, thereby impacting polls that currently point to a close race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. states.
Oil prices soared 5% at the beginning of the month, shortly after President Biden spoke about a possible Israeli attack on Iran’s oil infrastructure.
The US appears to be trying to limit Israel’s response to Iran.
Biden said the United States does not support any possible attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, a course of action advocated by some in Israel, including former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
And on October 4, Biden went further, suggesting that the United States also intends to oppose Israeli attacks on Iranian oil facilities.
“If I were in their shoes, I would consider alternatives to attacking Iranian oil fields,” he told a news conference.
Israel has not publicly said how it intends to respond to October’s Iranian missile attack, the second in six months, but Defense Minister Yoav Galant said last week that Israel’s response was “deadly, precise, And most of all, it’s going to be amazing.”
“They won’t understand what happened or how it happened, but they will see the results,” Gallant said.
In response, Iran said it would not tolerate any attack by Israel.
Meanwhile, the United States said it would help strengthen Israel’s air defenses by deploying high-altitude anti-missile systems.
The Pentagon said the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) deployment underscored America’s “ironclad” commitment to “defending Israel and protecting American citizens in Israel from further ballistic missile attack by Iran.”
Iran said the missile barrage in October was a response to Israel’s assassinations of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officials in Beirut, and of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya in Tehran. He said that.
Israel has dramatically escalated its operations against Iran-backed Hezbollah in recent weeks, carrying out deadly airstrikes primarily in southern and eastern Lebanon, and also in the capital, Beirut.
Prior to that, Israel and Hezbollah had been engaged in near-daily cross-border gunfire since October last year, when Hezbollah accused Israel of shelling as a show of support for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. started.
He said he would stop shelling if a ceasefire is reached in Gaza.
