Israeli media reported on Tuesday evening that the country’s war cabinet has decided how it will respond to Iran’s unprecedented attack over the weekend with the timing being the only factor that has not yet been determined.
The war cabinet — which consists of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and a former head of Israel’s military, Benny Gantz — is now waiting for “opportunity to be exploited” so that the attack can be launched, according to Israel’s Kann News.
Government officials advised Netanyahu that he needed to attack “sensitive facilities in Iran” in response to the Islamic Republic launching more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel, the report said.
One government official said that the longer the response takes to carry out, the less likely it is to be significant in scale or impact.
The New York Times highlighted examples of options that Israeli officials are choosing from and the potential drawbacks of some of the plans, which include:
- Conduct an aggressive strike on an Iranian target, such as an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp base, in a country other than Iran like Syria. (The drawback is that it lacks the symmetry of responding to a direct attack on Israel with a direct attack on Iran.)
- Strike a mostly symbolic target inside Iran. (Such a move would likely require U.S. consultation and would risk angering the Americans who have advised against such a strike.)
- Conduct a cyberattack on Iran’s infrastructure. (Doing so could expose Israel’s cyber capabilities prematurely and would not be an in-kind response to a major airstrike.)
- Accelerate small attacks inside Iran, including targeted assassinations, carried out by the Mossad. (Israel does not claim responsibility for such attacks, so they fail to match the public nature of Iran’s strike.)
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U.S. officials told The New York Times that while President Joe Biden will not take direct action against Iran, the U.S. will defend Israel again if Israel strikes Iran and Iran decides to launch another counterattack on the nation.