By Athena Papakosta

The Israel assures the American administration of Joe Biden that it will avoid striking Iran’s energy and nuclear facilities during its retaliatory strike against Tehran, which on October 1 launched 180 ballistic missiles against Israeli soil.

According to the publication of the American newspaper Washington Post, which cites two US officials, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told Washington that he intends to strike military installations.

As reported by the Associated Press news agency, the Biden administration believes that the deployment of the advanced US THAAD missile defense systemas well as sending about 100 US troops to handle it, will assuage some of Israel’s concerns about possible new Iranian retaliation against it and the general security problems that appear to be emerging in Israeli air defenses.

For its part, the New York Times reports that no final decision has been made and adds that Israeli retaliation could be large-scale, prompting Tehran to continue the cycle of attacks.

At the same time, the Washington Post notes that Israeli promises to the United States of a more limited-scale response may also only apply to the current moment. In particular, the American officials who spoke to the newspaper, maintaining their anonymity, stress that Israel’s assurances are not absolute and may – depending on circumstances – change in the future.

They note that Israel in the past has not kept similar promises to Washington, falling into the trap of its internal political problems and ultimately overturning Washington’s expectations and plans.

A more recent and illustrative example is the fact that about a month ago the Israeli leadership announced to the United States that it welcomed a temporary ceasefire in Lebanon and, two days later, the Israeli armed forces struck Beirut and killed its secretary general. Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah.

The post of the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, yesterday, Tuesday at 06:20 am, was typical. “We are listening to the thoughts of the American government, but we will make our final decisions based on the needs of Israel’s national security,” he emphasized.

The wider Middle East is bracing for Israeli retaliation, holding its breath in the event that Israel once again reneges on its word and strikes Iran’s energy infrastructure and/or nuclear facilities, bringing all point of the map on the brink of the abyss, that of a wider regional war.

The president of the United States has already made it clear to the Israeli leadership that he will not support a possible Israeli strike against the Iranian infrastructure in question, speaking with the Israeli prime minister by phone last week for the first time since August 21, when that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin continues to speak regularly with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallad.

The next few days – if not hours – are critical, with Washington stressing in its briefing last night that “our commitment to the defense of Israel is unwavering. We will not discuss (s.s. but) private diplomatic discussions and refer to the Israeli government to talk about its own possible military operations.”