Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his first statement since Israel’s retaliation against Iran, said Israel chose its targets based on its national interests and not on US instructions.

Israel’s Channel 13 reported that Israel initially planned to strike Iran’s oil and gas facilities, but changed its plan and focused solely on Iranian military facilities after persistent US pressure.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s office denied the report, calling it “completely false.”

“Israel chose the targets in advance, based on its national interests,” the Israeli prime minister’s office said, “and not based on American directives.” “So it was and so it shall be.”

It is noted that earlier the US President Joe Biden had stated that according to the first indications it seems that Israel has only hit military targets during its attack on Iran and that he hopes that this is “the end”.

President Biden had declared that he would not support an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities with analysts estimating after the Israeli attack that the White House had fully imposed its positions and Israel only targeted Iranian military facilities.