Netanyahu “promises Biden” that he will limit attacks on Iran to military targets

Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told US President Joe Biden that Israel would respond to the Iranian attack with strikes on military targets but would spare nuclear and oil facilities, suggesting a limited retaliation to prevent a wider war in the Middle East.

Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Biden discussed a possible Israeli response to the Iranian attack on October 1 in their first phone call in over a month last week, as the Israeli military expanded its ground invasion into southern Lebanon.

Tehran targeted Israeli military bases and the headquarters of the Mossad intelligence agency with a volley of around 200 ballistic missiles in retaliation for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh attributed to Israel and the attack on Lebanon that killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah along with it . According to reports late last month, some Iranian military officers.

Hamas and Hezbollah are allies of Iran.

Mr Biden had previously said he would not support an attack on Iranian nuclear sites and oil facilities.

An Israeli attack on Iran was inevitable as the Netanyahu government wanted to show strength and was to be carried out before the US presidential election on November 5th Washington Post reported, citing two unnamed officials familiar with the matter. “It will be one of several answers,” an official said.

The official said Israel’s retaliation would be aimed at avoiding the perception of “political interference in the US elections.”

Another US official told the newspaper that the Israeli prime minister was in a “more moderate position” in this discussion with Mr Biden than before, amid a rift between the two leaders over Israel’s ongoing attack on Lebanon. The Israeli attack in Lebanon has killed over 2,300 people and injured 10,700 in less than a month, according to the country’s health ministry.

Mr. Netanyahu’s moderate stance was factored into the Biden administration’s decision to send a terminal high-mountain defense battery to Israel, along with the American troops needed to operate it, to bolster Israel’s air defenses.

Mr. Biden said over the weekend that he agreed to use the Thaad battery “to defend Israel,” without giving further details.

“We listen to U.S. opinions, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interests,” Mr. Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

Several Gulf states have lobbied Washington to stop Israel from attacking Iranian oil facilities, fearing that Tehran’s allies could attack their own oil facilities if the conflict escalates.

Meanwhile, Australia warned its citizens against traveling to Israel and urged anyone already there to leave the country while commercial flights were available.

“The Australian government has serious concerns that the security situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories may be rapidly deteriorating,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Monday.

The US Embassy in Lebanon urged its citizens to leave immediately and warned that the additional flights the government had established since September 27 to help Americans leave would not continue indefinitely.