Israel considered carrying out a strike on Iran in retaliation for last weekend’s attack, but aborted the plan, Israeli and US media reported.
Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles against Israel over the weekend in an attack that caused little damage after most of the projectiles were intercepted.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to respond to the attack, prompting global powers to call for restraint to avoid any further escalation.
Photo: Reuters
Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that following discussions with US President Joe Biden, Netanyahu decided not to proceed with pre-arranged plans for retaliatory strikes on Iran in the event of an attack.
“Diplomatic sensitivities came into play,” a senior Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity told Kan, adding that there would be a response, but that it would be different from what was initially planned.
“Israel prepared for and then aborted retaliatory strikes against Iran on at least two nights this past week,” ABC News reported, citing three unnamed Israeli sources.
Among the range of possible reactions considered by the Israeli war Cabinet were options to attack Iranian proxies elsewhere in the region or to conduct a cyberattack, the sources told ABC.
At a Cabinet meeting on Monday, Israeli officials considered giving the Israel Defense Forces permission for a strike against Iran, but “for operational reasons” decided not to go ahead with it, two unnamed Israeli officials told US news firm Axios.
In New York, Iran’s top diplomat on Wednesday said that his country has told the US it is not seeking escalation.
Iran has “tried to tell the United States clearly” that Iran is “not looking for the expansion of tension in the region,” Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who is in New York to attend a UN Security Council meeting, said in a video posted by his ministry.
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