It’s likely that Tehran could imminently launch ballistic missiles against Israel a senior White House official told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, as the Jewish state braced for an Iranian attack within the next 12 hours.
“The United States has indications that Iran is preparing to imminently launch a ballistic missile attack against Israel,” the official stated.
“We are actively supporting defensive preparations to defend Israel against this attack,” the US official said.
“A direct military attack from Iran against Israel,” the official stressed, “will carry severe consequences for Iran.”
Iran last attacked Israel in April, but its missiles were thwarted by the unified actions of five armies: Israel, the US, France, Jordan, and the United Kingdom.
It's presumed that this attack would be larger than the 120 ballistic missiles, 170 drones, and dozens of cruise missiles which Iran launched on Israel in April."
Three Israeli officials said that the attack would involve unmanned drones and missiles fired toward three military air bases and an intelligence headquarters north of Tel Aviv, The New York Times reported.
The second direct military showdown between Israel and Iran comes as the IDF has, in the last weeks, bombarded Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, significantly weakening the Iranian proxy group. This has included the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Iran had warned of repercussions for those attacks.
Early Tuesday evening, the IDF Home Front took the nearly unprecedented step of warning the whole Tel Aviv region to head to bomb shelters even before rocket sirens went off.
In light of the Israeli and US confirmations that Iran plans to attack Israel imminently, it appeared that the attack by Tehran had already started.
Shortly after, the IDF said it had shot down a long-range rocket launched by Hezbollah against the Tel Aviv area. However, in light of the serious and imminent concerns about Iran, the IDF said that Tel Aviv residents should stay near their bomb shelters.
Hagari reaffirms IDF's high preparedness
IDF Spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari reaffirmed the IDF's high state of preparedness and that it was ready and willing to respond to any and all attacks from Iran.
"Following developments in Iran, we are in [a state of] high preparedness. IDF is prepared and ready both on the offensive and defensive front. There will be consequences if Iran attacks Israel. Our US partners in CENTCOM are ready alongside us. We will know how to handle [any attack].”
The US Embassy has warned its staff and their families to shelter in place. Israel's intelligence headquarters north of Tel Aviv was evacuated in advance of an attack.
The US has an aircraft carrier deployed in the region to help keep tensions from escalating as well as to suppress an Iranian response.
Reuters contributed to this report.