US Tells Israel It Won’t Join Counter-Strike on Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – US President Joe Biden told the Israeli prime minister that Washington will not join an offensive counter-strike on Iran should Israel choose that road after Tehran’s retaliatory operation in the early hours of Sunday, according to two people familiar with the conversation.
US officials, meanwhile, are urging Israelis to be measured in any response, two US officials and a diplomat familiar with the issue said.
The Biden administration is trying to defuse an armed confrontation that could drag the Middle East, as well as America, into a full-blown war. But it was not immediately clear if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would listen given political pressures at home, Politico reported.
The person familiar with the US-Israeli conversation said Biden essentially told Netanyahu to “take the win” given that Israel escaped the attack largely unscathed.
Iran’s decision to directly target Israeli soil, as opposed to using proxies or covert means to avenge Israel’s strike on its commanders, signaled a new front in the long-standing rivalry between the two countries.
Some in the Biden administration have theorized that Netanyahu may want to perpetuate the war in order to maintain his own grip on power.
Even prior to Iran’s operation, US officials had been quietly counseling Israel to exercise caution in any reaction. Those warnings have continued in the hours since.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force launched tens of missiles and drones in retaliation for the Israeli regime’s April 1 airstrike that killed several Iranian military commanders and advisers in Syria.
The IRGC commander said authentic reports about the Iranian missiles that have hit the Israeli targets indicate that the retaliatory operation has been considerably more successful than expected.
