Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have assured the United States that a counterstrike on Iran will be limited to military targets rather than oil or nuclear facilities, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
President Joe Biden, who has conveyed in public his opposition to striking Tehran’s nuclear and oil facilities, discussed Israel’s plans with Netanyahu during a classified phone call last week. In that conversation, Netanyahu relayed to Biden his plan to hit military targets, the person said.
The Washington Post first reported that Netanyahu had reassured Biden of his plans to avoid nuclear and oil targets.
Responding to that report, Netanyahu’s office said it will consider US opinions but ultimately decide its response to Iran’s October 1 attack based on its own national interests. And American officials said they were still closely coordinating with Israel as it decides how to respond.
“We listen to the opinions of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interests,” Netanyahu’s office wrote on X.
The White House, which hasn’t commented on Netanyahu’s reported message about avoiding nuclear and oil facilities, previously described the phone call between the leaders last week as “productive” and “direct.” It was their first conversation in nearly two months.
Israel’s deliberations over how to respond to Iran come at a moment of high tensions in the year-long conflict, which has expanded beyond Gaza into Lebanon. At the White House, officials have worked to limit Israel’s retaliation to the barrage of ballistic missiles, hoping to prevent a wider war.
Still, Biden and other top officials have maintained Israel has a right to respond, and have said they were in close coordination with their counterparts as they mulled a decision.
A strike on oil fields that could send energy prices soaring would be unwelcome weeks ahead of the US election, officials have said. And hitting Iran’s nuclear facilities could trigger the full-blown regional war that Biden has desperately sought to avoid.
American officials have said they expected a measured response from Israel, believing the country did not want an out-of-control conflict with Iran. But Biden’s leverage with Netanyahu has been limited as he has struggled to bring the violence to an end in Gaza and contain a wider war.
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