A number of experts in the field of decision-making at the intelligence and military levels said that there are still factors that prevent the region from being drawn into a major fire that could cause… Israel And Tehran Into an escalating conflict that draws other countries into it.
The experts added to Reuters that Israel would likely not back down from launching an air attack on Iran In the next few days in response to Tehran launching about 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday.
The Israeli Prime Minister reported Benjamin Netanyahu During a meeting with the security cabinet on Tuesday evening, “Whoever attacks us, we will attack him.”
However, Israeli officials have informed their American counterparts that their response to the Iranian attack will be “thoughtful” but have not yet provided a final list of potential targets, according to a source in Washington familiar with the discussions who requested anonymity.
Possibilities of Israeli response
In an interview with Reuters, Avi Melamed, a former official in… Intelligence Israeli: “I believe that the targets that will be chosen will be chosen carefully and with great care.”
Melamed explained that potential targets include sites of military importance to Iran, such as missile infrastructure, communications centers, and power plants.
According to Reuters, citing more than six former officials from the United States and Middle Eastern countries who worked in the military, intelligence and diplomatic fields, Israel will likely not target the oil facilities that support Iran’s economy or the nuclear sites.
Experts expected that the bombing of these highly sensitive targets would lead to a strong Iranian response.
The American President stated Joe Biden Thursday that he would not reveal the progress of his negotiations publicly when asked whether he urged Israel not to attack Iranian oil facilities.
Biden’s statements came hours after he said that Washington was discussing such Israeli strikes, which led to a rise in oil prices.
Norman Rolle, a former CIA official who was responsible for the Iranian file in National Intelligence from 2008 to 2017, believes that “it is not wise for observers from abroad to try to speculate on the Israeli attack plan,” adding, “But if Israel decides to launch a strike… “Proportionate and substantive at the same time, it may choose to limit its attacks on Iranian missiles and the structure of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which has supported the attacks launched by Tehran and its proxies on Israel.”
Rolle, a senior adviser to the group United Against Nuclear Iran, noted that Israel could bomb Iranian facilities engaged in refining gasoline and diesel for domestic consumption while avoiding facilities used to export. Oil.
Is it possible to hit nuclear sites?
The attack was launched by fighters from the movement (agitation) on Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, while the ensuing Israeli bombing of Gaza led to the death of nearly 42,000 and the displacement of almost all of the Strip’s population of about 2.3 million people. Clashes between Israel and Hezbollah also forced thousands of families in northern Israel and southern Lebanon to leave their homes.
Reuters quoted an informed source in Washington as saying that the United States is not pressuring Israel to refrain from a military response to the latest Iranian attack, as it did in April, but it calls for careful study of the potential consequences of any response.
However, Washington’s influence over Israel has proven limited and Netanyahu remains determined to target Israel’s enemies since the Hamas attack.
Richard Hooker, a retired US army officer who served on the National Security Council under Republican and Democratic presidents, considered that the Israelis “have already crossed all the red lines that we set for them.”
The approaching US presidential elections scheduled for November 5 also means that Biden’s ability to persuade has become limited during the final months he spends in the White House.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Biden said that Israel has the right to respond “proportionately,” explaining that he does not support an Israeli strike. for Iranian nuclear facilities.
Commenting on this point, Hooker said that targeting such sites is possible but unlikely, “because when you do something like this, you put the Iranian leadership in a position to do something very tragic in response.”
Israel surprised most countries of the world with its attack on… Hezbollah Last month, the Iranian-backed attack began by detonating thousands of communication devices known as (pagers) and walkie-talkies used by members of the group. The attack continued with the assassination of the party’s Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, in an air strike on Beirut, and the matter reached the point of a ground incursion into South Lebanon.
