Benjamin Netanyahu was considering ordering a new military campaign against Iran in early October. According to the Financial Times, US President Donald Trump opposed a resumption of fighting before the US midterm elections, scheduled for November 3.
The British newspaper based its report on testimony from three people familiar with the matter. According to them, the Israeli military was ready to strike Iranian nuclear installations, regime-linked sites and civilian infrastructure, including power plants, over the weekend of October 10.
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The sources said Israel’s plans envisaged strikes on a larger scale than the operations carried out by the US and Israel last February. However, the possibility that military action could resume in the coming weeks has not been ruled out. One person cited by the Financial Times described this scenario as not unreasonable.
Another source told the newspaper that Israel had drawn up a new “target bank,” which also included civilian infrastructure sites that were not hit in previous operations.
However, according to one of the sources, the Israeli preparations may also have been used as a negotiating tool to pressure Tehran. This source assessed that the final decision on resuming the fighting would depend on the US president’s position. The Pentagon has not commented on the report.
The Financial Times also reported that Trump did not want hostilities to resume before the US elections, while it remained unclear whether Washington would participate directly in a new military operation.
The article was published two days after reports emerged that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had secretly visited Israel and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss threats in the region.
Reports of Netanyahu’s efforts to resume operations against Iran have also emerged earlier in recent weeks.
On October 9, Trump said that the US would not attack Iran before the midterm elections. The statement followed reports that the chief of staff of the Israeli military, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, had told his American counterparts that a possible attack could affect the Israeli elections, scheduled for the following week.
According to the report, Jerusalem is concerned that Iran could respond to a US attack with a broad wave of missiles aimed at Israeli territory.
Last week, Israeli television station Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu had asked Trump to resume military operations against Iran before the Israeli elections on October 27 and the US midterm elections on November 3.
It is still unknown whether a new military operation will take place and how extensively the United States will be involved, despite the reported preparations and the pressure that the Israeli side allegedly exerted.
