April 15, 2024, 10:29 PM EDT
By Courtney Kube, Monica Alba and Mosheh Gains
U.S. officials expect a possible Israeli response to Iran’s attack over the weekend to be limited in scope and most likely involve strikes against Iranian military forces and Iranian-backed proxies outside Iran, four U.S. officials told NBC News.
The U.S. assessment is based on conversations between U.S. and Israeli officials that happened before Iran fired more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday night.
As Israel was preparing for a possible Iranian attack last week, Israeli officials briefed U.S. officials about possible response options, the U.S. officials said.
The U.S. officials stressed that they have not been briefed on Israel’s final decision about how it will respond and that the options could have changed since the weekend attack. They also said that it is not clear when an Israeli response will happen but that it could happen at any time.
President Joe Biden and other leaders have called for restraint after Israel vowed it would respond to Iran’s attack Saturday, which was in retaliation for an Israeli strike April 1 on an Iranian consular building in Syria, which killed two of Tehran’s top generals.
h/t truthseeker11