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Israel’s military intends to retaliate “significantly” and swiftly against Iran after the latter fired around 180 missiles at Israel’s territory, but it is still weighing what form this reprisal will take, according to a person briefed on the matter.
Israel is currently examining a range of options to strike back at Iran, and it is still consulting with the U.S. about this.
However, one of those options, the person said, is causing severe financial or economic damage to Iran by striking its lucrative oil fields. The person briefed on the matter spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The person added that the timing of any Israeli strike has also not yet been decided but was expected to be “soon” and would likely not wait for the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah to conclude.
‘Iran made a big mistake’:Israel promises revenge after missile attack
That holiday runs from sundown on Wednesday until sundown on Friday.
Attacking Iran’s oil facilities would hurt regular citizens, a move Israel largely has avoided to keep the focus on the country’s leadership, according to a separate U.S. official who discussed potential targets on condition of anonymity.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran “made a big mistake” by attacking Israel.
“They will understand,” he said. “We will stand by the rule we established: whoever attacks us, we will attack them.”
Iran said it fired its missiles at Israel in retaliation for Israel’s killing of Hassan Nasrallah and other top Lebanon-based Hezbollah leaders. Most of Iran’s missiles were intercepted with help from the U.S. military. A Palestinian man was killed in the West Bank. The attack caused some damage to an Israeli school and army bases.
Another option Israel may be weighing as a response to Iran’s missile attack is more assassinations of leaders of Iran’s proxy forces and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the U.S. official said.
An all-out war between arch-foes Israel and Iran has been threatened for decades.
For almost a year, Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group, has intensified firing of rockets into northern Israel. Tensions on that border have increased since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel that killed 1,200 people. Israel responded by launching military strikes on Gaza that have killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gazan Health Ministry.
U.S. officials are concerned that a ratcheting up of tensions could lead to a broader regional conflict in the Middle East and have been trying to negotiate a cease-fire.
The war tensions include groups that Iran trains, funds and supplies with weapons to promote its interests.
These groups, sometimes referred to as Iran’s “axis of resistance,” include Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, Houthis rebels in Yemen and various Iraq-based militias. Among their shared interests with Iran are opposition to the state of Israel and a desire to drive western powers, chiefly U.S. troops, from the Middle East.
The U.S. official said attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities, where the country is thought to be close to producing a weapon, is considered to be an unlikely move by Israel. Destroying or damaging deeply buried production facilities would require a major air attack.
