US officials: The date of Israel’s major strike on Iran and the initial goals
US officials revealed, Saturday, the date of the Israeli response to Iran and identified the potential targets that Israel might attack during the strike.
According to US and Israeli officials said that Tel Aviv has determined what it will target in its response to the Iranian attack, which these officials describe as Iranian military and energy infrastructure.
US officials believe that there is no indication that Israel will target nuclear facilities or carry out assassinations, but US officials stressed at the same time that the Israelis haven’t made a final decision on how and when they will act, according to Sputnik.
US media reports revealed that the United States doesn’t know when a response might be made, but they said that the Israeli army is ready and prepared to move at any time once the order is issued.
US officials said they had no information indicating a response would come Saturday, but acknowledged that Israel hadn’t shared a specific timetable with them, and it wasn’t clear that Israeli officials had agreed on a timetable yet, according to the US officials.
US and Israeli officials said that the Israeli response may come during the Yom Kippur holiday (which falls on Saturday, October 12)”.
US officials noted that Israel shared more information with the United States about the response, but they withheld many details due to security concerns.
The United States is preparing to defend its assets in the region from any immediate counterattack by Iran, but is unlikely to provide direct military support to the Israeli operation, according to officials.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Galant last night, discussing the broad outlines of an Israeli response.
However, it’s not clear whether Galant provided any concrete details.
The ministers’ call came after an Israeli cabinet meeting on responding to Iran, but Galant didn’t share the specific goals discussed at that meeting.
US officials continued to urge the Israeli government to make its response proportionate, stick to military targets and avoid oil, gas and nuclear facilities.
US officials said President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu didn’t discuss the details of the response in their call this week either.
Biden strongly urged Netanyahu to focus on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and Lebanon and urged him to end the fighting.
The US president also stressed that Israel needs to take into account the difficulty of successfully carrying out the war in Lebanon, and confronting the strong threat on a second front from Iran, according to US media reports.
