Iran and Yemen’s Houthis will pay “an immediate and grave price” if they attack Israel in response to a potential US attack, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir and Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday.
The IDF’s metaphorical finger was “on the trigger” if its enemies were to make any operational change, Zamir said.
Katz cited Israel’s success at assassinating several senior Houthi officials as a down payment on what could be a much more severe response if the terrorist group were to attack Israel in response to an American attack against Iran.
The US would likely attack Iran eventually, but not necessarily in the coming days, despite the spike in global media “noise” surrounding the conflict, people familiar with the matter told The Jerusalem Post late Wednesday night.
Israel’s impression is that US President Donald Trump has not yet decided on his final course of action, even if his disappointment in Iran’s negotiating positions this week made an eventual attack more likely, the sources indicated.
Many of the latest reports are viewed by some Israeli officials as global media noise that is based on the general impression from Trump administration officials coming out of this week’s negotiations as opposed to crossing the threshold.
Possibility of US strike on Iran
There has also been intense focus on whether Trump’s two-week deadline for Iran to return with a new offer can be compared to the two weeks last June. That turned out to be a fake and was cover for the US attack on the Fordow nuclear facility after only three days of the two-week deadline had passed.
But the circumstances are not the same.
When Trump broke his own deadline early, he had already sat on the sidelines for about a week and a half, during which Israel had already cleared out most of Iran’s air defenses. As a result, he faced little risk by sending in B-2 high-altitude bombers to drop bombs on Fordow uncontested.
In contrast, Trump is currently considering whether to be the lead party in a much longer campaign, during which he could lose many American soldiers as well as expensive sea vessels, and the broader goals of regime change might not be realized.
Under the circumstances, some Israeli officials believe the current noise is at most venting frustration and expressing to the Iranians the seriousness of the next two weeks, as opposed to signaling an imminent attack in the coming days.
That being said, there is general acknowledgment that Trump is unpredictable, and that even an imminent attack cannot be completely counted out.
Zamir also called on the haredi sector to join the country’s commitment to keeping the IDF “the nation’s army.”
Furthermore, he appealed to the reservists to remain committed to the IDF. He acknowledged the massive challenges they have faced from unprecedented amounts of service since the October 7 massacre in 2023.