Washington has received no assurances from Israel that it is off the table strike on Iran’s nuclear facilitiesa top US State Department official told CNN on Friday, as the West awaits Tel Aviv’s response to the missile attack launched by Tehran last Tuesday night.

The official added that it is “really hard” to predict whether Israel will use the anniversary of the October 7 attacks by Hamas to retaliate.

“We hope and expect to see some wisdom, as well as strength, but as you know, there’s no guarantee,” the official said when asked by CNN if Israel has assured the US that Iran’s nuclear facilities are off the table.

Washington has voiced its support for Israel in its response to Iran’s missile attack, with many officials saying publicly that there must be consequences. At the same time, officials have also expressed concerns about a regional war as they face an increasingly volatile Middle East.

Joe Biden said earlier this week that the US will not support Israel if it targets Iran’s nuclear program.

“If I were them, I would consider other alternatives than hitting oil wells” Biden said at a press conference on Friday.

The US is in the dark…

American officials still have no idea when Israel’s response will come. Biden said Friday that Israel is “not going to make a decision right away.”

The senior State Department official, asked by CNN whether Israel would use the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack to strike back against Iran, said: “It’s really hard to say.”

“I think they would like to avoid October 7th, so in my estimation, if anything is going to be done, it will probably be done before or after,” the official said.

The US has been working for a year to prevent the conflict from turning into a larger war, and has succeeded so far, the official said.

Biden said on Friday that US officials are in contact with their Israeli counterparts “12 hours a day”.

Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said Wednesday that “there are significant efforts on both sides to keep the lines of communication open and to ensure that perspectives are understood.”

“There have been moments of surprise, I don’t think it’s a secret, during the last two months,” he acknowledged.

“In relation to the Iranian attack on Israel, it is not only Israel that is considering its response options. It is also the United States,” Campbell said at an event at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“The overriding message is let’s be very careful in what we do with Iran,” Campbell said.