NBC, citing U.S. officials, said Israel had narrowed its options for responding to Iran by striking military targets and energy facilities, adding that there is no indication Israel will target Iranian nuclear facilities or carry out assassinations. .
U.S. officials also made clear that Israel had not made the final decision on how and when to respond to Iran, and that they believed the response would take place during the Yom Kippur holiday.
U.S. officials confirmed that they have no information regarding the response to Iran today, and Israel has not informed them of a specific date, but the Israeli military is ready and prepared as soon as the orders will be issued.
For its part, the Washington Post quoted an Israeli official as saying that the response to Iran is still being planned and that the delay in response comes amid ongoing consultations with the administration of US President Joe Biden .
The Israeli official explained that the security cabinet could meet by telephone to vote at any time.
The newspaper cited U.S. officials as saying the United States would help Israel defend itself, but that it did not want a direct war with Iran.
In a related context, the Israel Broadcasting Authority reported that the Israeli mini-ministerial council has not yet voted on the outline of the response to the Iranian missile attack, or even on the delegation of decision-making authority to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant. .
The media reported from a security source that there was a tendency not to vote on the response and to postpone its approval while the process was about to be implemented. It is also likely that Gallant’s trip to Washington will be postponed again, until the mini-ministerial council makes a decision on the response date.
The Israel Broadcasting Authority quoted an Israeli official as saying that gaps with the United States had narrowed over which targets should be struck in Iran.
For his part, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that what he described as the Iranian-led axis of evil was seeking to open new fronts and that Washington was trying to prevent that from happening. .
On the other hand, an Iranian official told the New York Times that his country had communicated to regional countries and mediators with Washington that it would respond in kind if Israel struck its oil facilities.
Nuclear Iran
At the same time, Reuters cited U.S. officials as saying that the prevailing belief in Washington is that Iran has not decided to build nuclear weapons, despite its recent strategic setbacks, as they say.
Reuters also cited a spokesperson for the US National Intelligence Directorate who said estimates indicate that Iranian leader Ali Khamenei has not decided to resume the nuclear weapons program.
CIA Director William Burns said earlier this week that the United States had no evidence that Khamenei had reversed his 2003 decision to suspend his nuclear weapons program, indicating that Iran was capable , within a week or a little more, to produce enough fissile material. to build a nuclear weapon, but there is no evidence that it decided to do so.
NBC quoted Burns – at a security conference in Georgia – as saying that Iran had made progress in its nuclear program by accumulating depleted uranium to levels suitable for making nuclear weapons.
Estimates vary as to how long Iran might need to build an effective nuclear weapon once it possesses enough fissile material. Some experts estimate that producing a warhead could take an entire year.
Burns’ statements follow Israeli threats to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities in response to Tehran’s targeting of Israel with dozens of missiles following the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah and deputy commander Abbas Nilforoushan of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, during Israeli raids on Beirut, and the assassination of the head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, on… Iranian territories.
It is worth noting that US President Joe Biden has repeatedly confirmed that he does not support Israel striking Iranian nuclear facilities, and at the same time Tehran confirms that it is ready for all scenarios.