Israel vows retaliation but is urged to show restraint and has yet to agree on its response to a sweeping drone and missile attack carried out on its territory by Iran on Saturday.
A Monday meeting of Israel's five-member war cabinet, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, concluded without comment on whether the Jewish state will make good on its promise to “demand a price” from Tehran, or give in to calls for a measured response from the international leaders.
The lengthy talks came after the Israeli military said Iran fired more than 300 drones and missiles into its territory on Saturday. It claimed that the country and its international allies had eliminated 99% of these attacks as part of its now 'Iron Shield' operation.
The US, Britain, France and Jordan helped intercept these threats. Tehran said the attack was in response to an Israeli attack that killed several top commanders at an Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, on April 1 – an offensive for which Israel has yet to claim responsibility.
Iran said Saturday's hostilities had “ended” its retaliatory measures – and Israel must now consider next steps.
According to Reuters, the Israeli war cabinet will meet again on Tuesday. The prime minister's office and the foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.
Speaking after the Cabinet meeting on Monday, an Israeli official Said that the country's decision-makers believe it is important that any possible response closely monitors the attack, and that such a gesture should be coordinated with Washington, NBC News reported.
Concerns are growing that the conflict – rooted in the October 7 terror attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel's retaliatory war campaign in the Gaza Strip – will spill over into the wider Middle East region. Since October, Israel has traded fire with a wave of other Iranian-backed factions, such as the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Yemeni Houthi and the Syrian government of Bashar Assad.
Global markets have also been shaken by the hostilities. Oil prices have risen due to potential disruptions from heavy oil producer Iran, and international maritime trade has suffered delays and suspensions due to Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
“There are people now in the war cabinet who will push for a broader campaign in Lebanon against Hezbollah, against Iran itself, to take advantage of this moment,” said Julien Barnes-Dacey, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Commission. Council on Foreign Relations, said Tuesday on “Street Signs.”
'Mr. Security'
Netanyahu, who has previously faced accusations of fraud and corruption as well as citizen protests over his proposed judicial reforms, faces domestic pressure to adopt a hard line on Iran — and international pressure to back down.
In a Google-translated social media postIsraeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he is mobilizing a “diplomatic offensive” against Iran, noting that he has sent a letter to 32 world figures “calling for the imposition of sanctions against Iran's missile project and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been declared a terrorist organization.”
The Israeli military has also indicated that it is ready to respond: “Iran will face the consequences of its actions. We will choose our response accordingly,” IDF Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi. said in a video address Monday evening.
Still, U.S. officials say potential Israeli retaliation could be limited in scope to attacks on Iranian forces and Iranian-backed proxies outside Iranian territory, four U.S. officials told NBC Newswith three sources adding that Washington has no intention of engaging in such an offensive.
CNBC could not independently verify these reports.
“Whatever is left of “Mr. Security “is a village of ruins from Bari to Kiryat Shmona, and a complete loss of Israeli deterrence,” Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said of Netanyahu on social media, according to a Google translation. “It's election time now.”
But Ehud Olmert, Israel's former prime minister, told CNBC's Dan Murphy that the absence of casualties and limited damage from Saturday's attack means Israel may now act “in a quieter, more subdued and more reserved manner to address the somehow a direct confrontation with Iran.”
He acknowledged that Netanyahu is under pressure from right-wing groups within the Cabinet who are demanding a very “tough and painful reprisal” against Israel, but emphasized that “it would be a mistake to attack Iran now. We defeated Iran on Saturday evening. “
He added, “[U.S. President Joe] Biden wants to keep the situation under control, not allow it to expand, and we are all on the same page with President Biden.”
The US leader, who previously pledged an “ironclad” commitment to Israel, has told Netanyahu that the White House will not join offensive operations against Iran, a senior administration official told NBC News.
World leaders across Europe, the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East have widely called for calm, with Saudi Arabia – a now-reconciled former enemy of Iran – urging “the utmost possible degree of restraint.”
