(CNN) –Israel has not given the Biden administration any assurances that it will not attack Iran’s nuclear facilities in retaliation for the Iranian ballistic missile attacks earlier this week, a senior US State Department official said. USA to CNN this Friday.
The official added that it is “very difficult to know” whether Israel will use the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks to retaliate.
“We hope to see some wisdom and strength, but as you know, there are no guarantees,” the official said when asked by CNN whether Israel has assured the United States that Iran’s nuclear sites are off the table.
US officials expressed support for the Israeli response to Iran’s missile attack earlier this week, and several officials have said publicly that there must be consequences. At the same time, authorities have also expressed concern about a regional conflagration in an increasingly volatile Middle East.
Video of the exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah on the Lebanese border
President Joe Biden stated earlier this week that the United States would not support Israel attacking the Iranian nuclear program.
“If I were in your place, I would think about alternatives other than attacking oil fields,” Biden declared at a press conference this Friday.
U.S. officials are also still unclear when Israel’s response will be decided or enacted. The president said this Friday that Israel “was not going to make a decision immediately.”
The senior State Department official, asked by CNN whether Israel would use the first anniversary of the Hamas attack to retaliate against Iran, said: “It’s really hard to say.”
“I think in some ways they would want to avoid the 7th, so in my opinion if there is something it would probably be sooner or later,” the official said, pointing to the solemnity of that day and any Israeli retaliation potentially downplaying what that day represents.
The United States has been working for almost a year to prevent the conflict from becoming a major war, and so far it has succeeded, according to the official. Right now, “this is at the limit,” the official added.
Biden said this Friday that US officials are in contact with their Israeli counterparts “12 hours a day.”
Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said Wednesday that there are “great efforts on both sides to keep the lines of communication open and make sure perspectives are understood.”
“There have been moments of surprise, I don’t think it’s a secret, over the course of the last two months,” he acknowledged.
“With regard to the Iranian attack on Israel, it is not only Israel that is thinking about its response options; It is also the United States,” Campbell said at an event at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“Our overriding message is, ‘let’s be very careful in everything we do regarding Iran,’” Campbell said.
This article has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Nikki Carvajal contributed to this report.
