Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz suggested on Monday that U.S. pressure had spared Hezbollah from collapse, as he warned that Iran could strike the Jewish state in defense of its Lebanese proxy.
U.S. President Donald Trump sought to link the Lebanese and Iranian fronts “because Iran was applying heavy pressure,” Katz told Israeli military reporters during a briefing on Jerusalem’s defense doctrine in the wake of the wars with Hezbollah and Tehran, according to Channel 12 News.
Following discussions with the White House, the Israel Defense Forces was ordered to stand down, the defense minister said, preventing a “massive blow that the IDF had planned to continue delivering to Hezbollah.”
“Linking the fronts saved Hezbollah from a terrible blow, perhaps even its collapse,” he added.
“It was an American interest. They very much wanted to advance the possibility of negotiations with Iran,” said Katz, adding that “when you enter into a partnership, it has advantages, but it also comes with certain constraints.”
After Israel had to stop “bringing down buildings in Beirut,” the IDF expanded ground operations north of the Litani River and enlarged its security zone in Southern Lebanon with U.S. approval, Katz stated.
He said Jerusalem has made clear to the Trump administration that it will not leave security zones in Lebanon, Syria or the Gaza Strip as long as threats from Iranian-backed terrorist organizations persist.
The IDF is “prepared and on alert” for Iranian missile fire toward the Jewish state and has prepared a bank of targets to strike inside the Islamic Republic, Katz continued.
Iran launched several barrages of ballistic missiles at Israel on June 7-8 in support of Hezbollah, prompting Jerusalem to retaliate with strikes against the regime.
“If we have definitive intelligence about Iranian decisions, we will act on it,” Katz said on Monday. “If Iran attacks us with missiles, we will respond with force, and that has been made clear to the Americans.”
A renewed Iranian attack “could happen even within two days,” he said, adding that the Jewish state “will not interfere with the U.S. president’s course of action vis-à-vis the Iranians.”
“The war with Iran would resume under two scenarios: if Trump decides to act and we join him, or, alternatively, if they fire on us,” Katz reiterated.
Trump said on Monday that Iran has requested to continue diplomatic negotiations with the United States, with talks set to take place on Tuesday.
“Iran has requested a meeting. It will take place tomorrow in Doha,” the president wrote on his Truth Social account.
The fragile interim deal between Tehran and Washington signed on June 17 was tested over the weekend when the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps struck a cargo vessel and a commercial tanker with attack drones in separate incidents on Thursday and Saturday, prompting U.S. forces to launch retaliatory strikes on Iranian military sites.
The Islamic regime then fired missiles and drones at U.S. military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain on Sunday.
