Israel tells US it will spare Iranian oil, nuclear sites - reports

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured US President Joe Biden in a phone call that Israel will refrain from attacking Iran's nuclear or energy facilities, US newspapers reported citing officials.

The reports cheered markets, and oil prices fell nearly 5% to almost a two-week low on Tuesday as fears of a supply disruption eased.

Israel has publicly pledged to carry out a painful counterattack for an Iranian Oct. 1 attack on its soil with around 180 ballistic missiles but has yet to specify targets.

The Biden administration has in the past two weeks counseled Israel to carry out a more limited counterstrike aimed at preventing a full-scale war.

In a Wednesday phone call, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Joe Biden that he is planning to strike military infrastructure rather than oil or nuclear facilities in Iran, two officials familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.

The account was corroborated by two officials cited by the New York Times.

One of the two officials told the Washington Post that Israel’s retaliatory action would be calibrated to avoid the perception of “political interference in the US elections".

Some US allies in the region have been lobbying Washington to prevent Israel from striking oil facilities in Iran for fear that their own oil infrastructure would be hit in a counterattack, according to reports by Reuters and the Wall Street Journal.

They have conveyed to Washington that they disapprove of Israeli or American use of their airspace for any attack on Iran or having their land used as a launchpad for any strike, the WSJ reported last week.

‘Netanyahu’s stance softened’

During the Wednesday discussion with Biden, Netanyahu was in a “more moderated place” than he had previously been, the US official told The Post, describing the call between the two leaders.

“The apparent softening of the prime minister’s stance factored into Biden’s decision to send a powerful missile defense system to Israel,” the report said citing both officials.

Pentagon announced on Sunday a US air defense battery will be stationed in Israel to bolster air defense against Iran's potential ballistic missiles, amid preparations for a possible Iranian response to a highly-anticipated Israeli retaliatory attack.

"At the direction of the President, Secretary Austin authorized the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery and associated crew of US military personnel to Israel to help bolster Israel's air defenses following Iran's unprecedented attacks against Israel on April 13 and again on October 1," the Pentagon's press secretary announced in a statement.

‘Diplomacy fails’

Since the October 1 missile barrage, Iran has appeared to signal its effort to avoid an all-out war with Israel.

“We are not seeking war, although we are fully prepared for it. We believe that diplomacy must work to prevent a major crisis in the region,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said during his regional tour which took him to Lebanon, Iraq and Oman.

However, he ended his tour in Muscat with a press conference in which he said “Iran does not see a basis for [continuation of indirect] talks with the US until the current crisis is resolved.”

Some observers, including former senior lawmaker Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh and veteran journalist Mohammad Aghazadeh, believe Araghchi’s remarks at the end of his extensive diplomatic efforts signal the “failure of diplomacy”, and indicate that “there is no other choice but war.”