Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the United States that Israel is willing to strike Iranian military targets and not nuclear or oil ones, The Washington Post reported on Monday, citing two officials familiar with the matter.
According to The Washington Post, during Biden and Netanyahu’s phone call on Wednesday, their first in nearly two months, Netanyahu said he planned to target military infrastructure in Iran.
Both the Prime Minister’s office and The White House did not respond to a request for comment, The Washington Post noted.
Following the report, the Prime Minister's Office issued a statement in the early hours of Tuesday announcing that Israel would listen to the US but make its decisions independently, based on national interest.
US involvement in Israel's response
The sources told The Washington Post that any response to Iran would avoid any perception of “political interference in the US elections,” signaling Netanyahu’s understanding that this conflict and Israel’s actions have the potential to influence the upcoming presidential election.
Both officials said, according to the report, that Netanyahu’s "more moderate" attitude towards retaliation factored into Biden’s decision to send a powerful missile defense system to Israel.
Following the Iranian attack on Israel on October 1, President Biden publicly stated he would not support an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear-related sites, the report noted.
Reuters contributed to this report.