2/8/2024–|Last update: 2/8/202401:47 AM (Makkah Time)
The White House said that US President Joe Biden discussed in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday new US defensive military deployments to support Israel against threats such as missiles and drones.
According to the US Presidential Office, the two sides discussed the recent escalation in the Middle East, and Biden stressed during the call his commitment to Israel's security against all threats coming from Iran.
The two sides also stressed, according to the White House, the importance of ongoing efforts to de-escalate tensions in the broader region.
The White House said Vice President Kamala Harris participated in the call between Biden and Netanyahu.
Meanwhile, the US National Security Council's Strategic Policy Coordinator, John Kirby, said that his country is taking all necessary precautions to ensure its defense and that of its allies in the region.
Kirby added in a television interview that Iran has already proven that it is able and willing to launch a major attack on Israel, and that the United States must take the Iranian leader's speeches about revenge seriously, he said.
US estimates
In turn, the Axios website quoted American officials as saying that the Biden administration is convinced that Iran will attack Israel within days, in response to the assassination of the head of the political bureau of the Palestinian Hamas movement, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran.
Axios added, quoting an American official, that American intelligence received clear indications on Wednesday of Iran's intention to respond to Haniyeh's assassination, and that Washington believes that it may take days for the Iranians and what it described as Tehran's agents to prepare for an attack on Israel.
The same website quoted a senior Israeli official as saying that Israeli intelligence expects Iran to launch a large-scale missile attack on Israel, while American officials believe that the Iranian response may be broader in scope, and that the Lebanese Hezbollah may participate in it.
Axios quoted US officials as saying that the Pentagon and Central Command are preparing in a manner similar to what happened during the attack last April, by deploying US military equipment in the Gulf, the eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea.