The decision to respond to Iran’s missile attack against Israel will be “based on Israel’s national security needs,” according to a statement released by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu overnight Monday.
“We listen to the American government’s thoughts, but will make our final decisions based on Israel’s national security needs,” the statement continued.
The statement was an apparent response to a Washington Post report on Monday that Netanyahu had informed U.S. President Joe Biden that Israel’s retaliatory strike on the Islamic Republic would avoid oil and nuclear installations and instead focus on military sites.
A U.S. official and an official familiar with the matter told the Post that the comments were made during a phone call last week between the two leaders. The latter official said that the retaliatory action would be adjusted to avoid the perception of “political interference in the U.S. elections.”
Both officials suggested that the alleged softening of Netanyah’s stance in favor of a more limited strike was related to Washington’s decision to deploy in Israel a THAAD advanced aerial defense system to defend against a potential Iranian response.
The Israeli strike on Iran would be carried out before the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5, the official familiar with the matter said, because a lack of action could be seen by the regime in Tehran as a sign of weakness.
“It will be one in a series of responses,” she said.
Jerusalem’s target list will likely include Iranian military and energy infrastructure, but not nuclear facilities or assassinations, NBC News reported on Saturday, citing U.S. officials.
However, the sources stressed that Israel has not decided on the type or timing of strikes.
The Jewish state has vowed a significant response to Tehran’s second-ever direct attack on Oct. 1, in which over 180 ballistic missiles were fired at Israel from Iranian soil. 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.
The damages from the Iranian attack are estimated at 150 million to 200 million shekels ($40 million to $53 million), according to an initial assessment by the Israel Tax Authority published on Sunday.
Since the Oct. 1 attack, approximately 2,500 claims have been submitted to the Israeli government, including some 2,200 instances of damage to buildings and 300 claims of damage to vehicles and their contents.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Oct. 9 that Israel’s strike “will be powerful, precise and above all—surprising,” adding that the Islamic regime “will not understand what happened and how it happened.”
