Netanyahu
tells U.S. that Israel will strike Iranian military, not nuclear or oil,
targets, officials say
Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the Biden administration he is
willing to strike military rather than oil or nuclear facilities in Iran,
according to two officials familiar with the matter, suggesting a more limited
counterstrike aimed at preventing a full-scale war.
In the two
weeks since Iran’s latest missile barrage on Israel, its second direct attack
in six months, the Middle East has braced for Israel’s promised response,
fearing the two countries’ decades-long shadow war could explode into a head-on
military confrontation. It comes at a politically fraught time for Washington,
less than a month before the election; President Joe Biden has said publicly he would not support an Israeli strike on nuclear-related sites.
When Biden
and Netanyahu spoke Wednesday — their first call in more than seven weeks after months of
rising tensions between the two men — the prime minister said he was planning
to target military infrastructure in Iran, according to a U.S. official and an
official familiar with the matter. Like others in this story, they spoke on the
condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations.
Israeli
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant vowed Tuesday that Israel would respond to the
Iranian attack, saying its response would be “precise, painful and surprising.”
But, he added, “we are not interested in opening additional fronts or new
conflicts.”
The White
House had no immediate comment. The Israeli prime minister’s office said in a
statement that “we listen to the opinions of the United States, but we will
make our final decisions based on our national interest.”
The
retaliatory action would be calibrated to avoid the perception of “political
interference in the U.S. elections,” the official familiar with the matter
said, signaling Netanyahu’s understanding that the scope of the Israeli strike
has the potential to reshape the presidential race.
An Israeli
strike on Iranian oil facilities could send energy prices soaring, analysts
say, while an attack on the country’s nuclear program could erase any remaining
red lines governing Israel’s conflict with Tehran, triggering further
escalation and risking a more direct U.S. military role. Netanyahu’s stated
plan to go after military sites instead, as Israel did after Iran’s attack in
April, was met with relief in Washington.
Netanyahu
was in a “more moderated place” in that discussion than he had previously been,
said the U.S. official, describing the call between the two leaders. The
apparent softening of the prime minister’s stance factored into Biden’s
decision to send a powerful missile defense system to Israel, both officials
said.
After that
call, the president was more inclined to do it, the U.S. official said.
On Sunday,
the Pentagon announced that it was deploying its
anti-ballistic Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, battery system to
Israel, along with about 100 U.S. military personnel. U.S. officials announced
Tuesday that an advance team of personnel and initial components for the system
had arrived in Israel the previous day. More personnel and components would
continue to arrive in the coming days, they said.
The
deployment of the system “underscores the United States’ commitment to the
defense of Israel,” the Pentagon said.
The Israeli
strike on Iran would be carried out before the U.S. elections on Nov. 5, the
official familiar with the matter said, because a lack of action could be
interpreted by Iran as a sign of weakness. “It will be one in a series of
responses,” she said.
Zohar Palti,
a former intelligence director for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, said
Netanyahu would need to balance Washington’s appeals for moderation with the
public demand in Israel for an overwhelming response.
“The
Iranians have lost every measure of restraint that they used to have,” he said.
“Without the U.S. weapons, Israel cannot fight,” Palti acknowledged. “But it is
Israel who takes the risks” and “knows how to do the job.”
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