Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Tuesday and discussed “uniting against” Iran.
“The issue of the Iranian threat was raised, including the need for both countries to unite against it,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on the meeting. “The Prime Minister thanked the American Secretary of State for the support of the US in the fight against Iran’s axis of evil and terrorism.”
The State Department said in a readout of the meeting that the two officials discussed efforts to “deter further regional aggression from Iran and its proxies” and said Blinken “reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s security.”
The meeting comes amid anticipation of an Israeli attack on Iran in response to the Iranian missile barrage that was fired at Israeli territory, which was retaliation for a string of Israeli escalations, including the killing of Hamas’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, while he was visiting Tehran.
It’s unclear how big Israel’s attack on Iran will be or when it will happen, but it’s expected to take place before the US presidential election on November 5. According to Israeli media, Israel could use a Hezbollah drone attack that targeted Netanyahu’s home as a pretext to justify more extensive strikes on Iran.
Iran has denied any role in the attack on Netanyahu’s home, which was officially claimed by Hezbollah on Tuesday. Blinken and Netanyahu discussed the attack during their meeting, according to the statement of Netanyahu’s office, which made clear Israel was still blaming the incident on Iran.
“The American Secretary of State expressed the US’s deep shock over the Iranian attempt, via Hezbollah, to eliminate the Prime Minister of Israel, and made it clear that this was an exceptionally extreme incident,” the statement said.
The US is supporting Israel’s plans to attack Iran by vowing to defend Israel from any retaliation. The US has deployed a THAAD air defense system and about 100 troops to operate it on Israeli territory, which could become a potential target of Iranian missiles. It’s also possible that the US directly supports the Israeli attack on Iran either by providing intelligence or launching strikes of its own.
