WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration believes it has received assurances from Israel that it will not attack Iran’s nuclear or oil facilities, two people say, as the Biden administration seeks to strike back after Iran’s missile barrage earlier this month. US officials announced this on Tuesday.
The administration also sent the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Squadron and about 100 soldiers to operate it to Israel, alleviating some Israeli concerns about possible Iranian retaliation and general security issues. I think it was done.
The Pentagon on Sunday announced the deployment of THAAD to strengthen Israel’s air defenses following Iranian ballistic missile attacks in April and October, saying it was authorized at the direction of President Joe Biden. said.
But U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic talks, warned that Israel’s guarantees were not ironclad and the situation could change.
Officials also noted that Israel’s past record of fulfilling its commitments has been mixed and often reflects Israeli domestic politics that have subverted Washington’s expectations.
The most recent example was last month when U.S. officials were told by Israeli officials that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would welcome the U.S. and French-led idea of a temporary ceasefire in Lebanon, but that Israel had launched massive airstrikes. That’s when I was told that all I had to do was watch people die. Two days later, Hezbollah’s supreme leader Hassan Nasrallah.
“We will listen to the views of the United States, but the final decision will be based on national interests," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israel in a letter dated Sunday that it must increase the amount of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza within the next 30 days. He warned that Israel risked losing access to U.S. weapons funding.
Countries in the Middle East are bracing for an expected Israeli response after Iran launched around 180 ballistic missiles on October 1, which the United States helped defeat. Retaliatory strikes and the uncertainty of whether Israel will attack Iran’s strategically important energy and nuclear facilities have raised concerns about escalation to a full-scale regional war.
Israel’s offensive against Iranian-backed Hamas militants in Gaza also targeted Hezbollah, another Iranian proxy that has been bombarding Israel since the start of the Gaza conflict a year ago in solidarity with Hamas. It expanded into a ground invasion of Lebanon.
Biden said he did not support retaliatory Israeli attacks on facilities linked to Iran’s nuclear program and called on Israel to consider alternatives to attacking Iran’s oil sector. Such strikes could impact global oil markets and push up pump prices just ahead of the U.S. presidential election.
Biden and Netanyahu spoke by phone last week for the first time in seven weeks, and Defense Secretary Austin has been speaking regularly with Israeli Defense Secretary Yoav Gallant.
The Pentagon read out a call from Sunday in which Austin reaffirmed U.S. support for Israel’s security, while ensuring protection for U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon and moving away from military operations to a diplomatic solution. “This raises concerns about the dire humanitarian situation in Israel,” he said. Gaza stressed the need to take immediate steps to address this. ”
The White House National Security Council declined to confirm whether Netanyahu had given Biden any assurances about the goal.
“Our commitment to the defense of Israel is resolute,” the White House National Security Council said in a statement. “We will not discuss informal diplomatic talks and will refer the Israeli government to talk about its potential military operations.”
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Associated Press writer Julia Frankel contributed from Jerusalem.
