Jerusalem is not sharing with Washington its plans to respond to Tehran’s missile offensive against Israel last week, U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
According to the report, Biden administration officials are frustrated at the lack of details conveyed to them after the White House publicly expressed its opposition to strikes on the Islamic Republic’s oil fields and nuclear facilities.
The administration has been caught off guard multiple times during Israel’s year-long war against Tehran’s terror proxies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Journal reported, including by the recent assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
President Joe Biden has emphasized throughout the war that the United States wants to avoid an escalation into a regional war.
American officials said that they don’t know the timing of Israel’s planned strike on Iran or its targets. They were hoping to learn more from Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant during a planned visit to Washington on Wednesday, but that trip was postponed.
Gallant was set to meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon, but on Tuesday night Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nixed Gallant’s trip.
“We were just informed that Minister Gallant will be postponing his trip to Washington,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told a news briefing on Tuesday.
As of late Tuesday night, Gallant’s flight to the United States had not been approved. According to Hebrew media reports, Netanyahu set two conditions for greenlighting Gallant’s trip: a phone call between Netanyahu and Biden and Security Cabinet approval of Israel’s next steps.
A person familiar with the matter told Reuters that the Netanyahu-Biden call about plans to strike Iran is expected to occur on Wednesday.
During the one-day trip to Washington, Gallant was also supposed to meet with senior Biden administration officials, including National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
On Oct. 1, over 180 ballistic missiles were fired from Iranian soil in two waves in the second-ever direct attack by Tehran against Israel. The Israeli military with the assistance of the United States and Jordan shot down most of the missiles, with the sole casualty of the attack being a Palestinian man from Gaza who was struck by falling missile debris near Jericho.
Jerusalem has vowed a significant response to the Iranian attack.
NBC News reported on Tuesday, citing two U.S. officials, that the U.S. does not believe that Israel has made a final decision on how to respond to the Iranian attack and hasn’t provided the Americans with any details.
According to the officials, Gallant and Austin have discussed potential options for a response, which according to the sources could include military and intelligence complexes, air defense systems and energy infrastructure. The two military leaders did not discuss attacking nuclear sites.
U.S., Arab countries discussing comprehensive ceasefire
Channel 12 reported on Tuesday that the United States and Arab countries are in secret talks with Iran on a proposal for a comprehensive ceasefire. However, Israel is not involved in the discussions at this point, according to the report.
“We are currently in a position of strength. A ceasefire will be on our terms, including a withdrawal north of the Litani River and the dismantling of all Hezbollah military compounds in areas near the border,” senior Israeli officials told Channel 12.
