The Israeli government has told the Biden administration that it will avoid striking Iran’s nuclear enrichment and oil production sites when it responds to Tehran’s recent missile attack, two officials said, a move that may reduce the immediate likelihood of an all-out war between the two adversaries.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy, said that Israel had agreed to focus its next attack on military targets in Iran instead of sites related to Iran’s oil industry or its uranium enrichment efforts. The Biden administration believes that if Israel were to hit such targets, it could set off an escalation in West Asia at a time when Israel is already at war with Iranian proxies in Gaza and Lebanon.
While no final decision is believed to have been made, an Israeli retaliation could still be large in scale, possibly prompting Iran to continue the cycle of attacks. And the officials said the Israeli pledge, first reported by The Washington Post, related only to its next attack against Iran — meaning that it could still pursue more ambitious targets in future rounds of fighting.
Even if it avoids Iranian nuclear enrichment and oil sites, Israel could still hit a wide array of military targets including launchers, storage sites and factories for missiles and drones, as well as military bases and government buildings, according to two Israeli officials.
US Gaza concern
US secretary of state Antony Blinken and defence secretary Lloyd Austin said Israel must take urgent steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza to avoid legal action involving US military aid, according to news reports.
