The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the US President Joe Bidenʼs administration that he is ready to strike the military, not oil or nuclear facilities in Iran.
Sources told The Washington Post about it.
In the two weeks since Iranʼs latest missile attack on Israel, the Middle East has braced for a promised Israeli response amid fears that the decades-long shadow war between the two countries could escalate into outright military confrontation.
This comes at a politically difficult time for Washington, less than a month before the election. Biden has publicly stated that he will not support an Israeli strike on nuclear weapons facilities.
And due to the risks that Israel may attack Iranʼs oil facilities, the price of oil has increased in the world. Experts believe that a large-scale strike by Israel on Iranʼs export capacity could take 1.5 million barrels of daily supplies out of the market.
When Biden and Netanyahu spoke on Oct. 9, the prime minister said he planned to strike military infrastructure in Iran, the sources said.
Netanyahu took a "more moderate position" in the discussion than before, the US official said, describing the phone conversation between the two leaders. The apparent softening of the prime ministerʼs position influenced Bidenʼs decision to send Israel a powerful anti-missile defense system.
Israel will strike Iran before the November 5 US election, sources say, because the lack of action could be interpreted by Iran as a sign of weakness.
- On October 1, Iran fired hundreds of missiles at Israel. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it struck "in the very heart of the occupied lands" in response to the "martyrdom" of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan.
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