The US expects Iran will carry out a number of strikes on Israel as tensions rise in the Middle East, a senior administration official and a source familiar with the intelligence said, per CNN.
One of the people said that US officials believe Iran could be readying as many as 100 cruise missiles for an attack, the report said. ABC News carried a similar report.
Both sources said Iran had been moving military assets, including drones and missiles, in preparation for a possible attack on the Jewish state.
It comes after Israel killed seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) officials in an airstrike earlier this month.
“There is a real risk that Iranian-backed groups will intensify their targeting of US forces and Israel in response to this latest attack, leading to heightened escalations in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and possibly Jordan,” Haid Haid, a consulting fellow in the think tank Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Programme said in a report.
On Friday, the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah fired 40 rockets into Israel from its Lebanon base, some of which were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome defenses, reports said.
President Joe Biden issued a simple but stark warning to Iran following the reports, saying: “Don’t,” while also warning that he expected an attack “sooner than later.”
“We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel,” he added. “We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed.”
The US has responded to the latest threat with plans to dispatch its warships, including the aircraft carrier the USS Dwight D Eisenhower, a cruiser, and two destroyers, closer to Israel, reports said.
Tensions between Israel and Iran have ramped up since Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip, following the October 7 terrorist attacks, when Hamas militants killed an estimated 1,200 people in Israel.
The Israeli counteroffensive has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
