Israel’s war cabinet is locked between restraint and revenge

[Pelican Press 0]

*******’s war cabinet is locked between restraint and revenge

Vowing retribution but urged to show restraint, ******* has yet to agree on its response to an expansive drone and missile strike carried out on its territories by Iran on Saturday.

A Monday meeting of *******’s five-person war cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, concluded without comment on whether the ******* state will honor its pledge to “exact a price” from Tehran or concede to calls for a measured response from international leaders.

The prolonged deliberation came after the ******** military said that Iran on Saturday fired more than 300 drones and missiles at its soil. It claimed that it and international allies eliminated 99% of these attacks as part of its now-dubbed “Iron Shield” operation.

The U.S., U.K., France and Jordan assisted in intercepting these threats. Tehran said its ******** was in response to an ******** strike that ******* several top commanders at an Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, on April 1 — an offensive for which ******* has yet to claim responsibility.

Iran said the Saturday hostilities have “concluded” its retaliation — and ******* is now left to consider next steps.

The ******** war cabinet is set to meet again on Tuesday, according to Reuters. The prime minister’s office and foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

Speaking after the cabinet’s Monday gathering,

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said the country’s decision-makers believe it is important for any potential response to closely follow the *******, and that such a gesture would be coordinated with Washington, NBC News reports.

Concerns are mounting that the conflict — rooted in the Oct. 7 ******* ******* undertaken by ************ militant group ****** and *******’s retaliatory war campaign in the Gaza Strip — will seep into the broader Middle East region. Since October, ******* has traded ***** with a spate of other Iran-supported factions, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemeni Houthi and Bashar Assad’s Syrian administration.

Global markets have also been rattled by the hostilities. Oil prices have been bolstered by the potential for disruptions from heavyweight crude producer Iran, and international maritime trade has faced delays and suspensions amid Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.

“There are those in the war cabinet now who will be pushing for a wider campaign in Lebanon against Hezbollah, against Iran itself to take advantage of this moment,” Julien Barnes-Dacey, director of the Middle East & North ******* program at the ********* Council on Foreign Relations, said on “Street Signs” on Tuesday.

‘Mr. Security’

Netanyahu, who has previously battled ****** and *********** charges and civil protests over his proposed judicial reforms, faces domestic pressure to assume a hard line against Iran – and international ones to stand down.

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, *******’s Foreign Minister ******* Katz said he is mobilizing a “diplomatic offensive” against Iran, noting that he has sent 32 world figures a letter “calling for calling for sanctions to be imposed on the Iranian missile project and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps be declared a ********** organization.”

The ******** military has also signaled its readiness to respond: “Iran will face the consequences for its actions. We will choose our response accordingly,” IDF Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi

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.

Yet U.S. officials say a potential ******** retaliation could be restricted in scope to strikes against Iranian military forces and Iranian-backed proxies outside of Iranian territory, four U.S. officials

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, with three sources adding that Washington does not intend to participate in such an offensive.

CNBC could not independently verify these reports.

“All that is left of “Mr. Security” is a village of ruins from Bari to Kiryat Shmona, and a complete loss of ******** deterrence,” ******** opposition leader Yair Lapid said of Netanyahu

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, according to a

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translation. “It’s election time, now.”

But Ehud Olmert, former ******** prime minister, told CNBC’s Dan Murphy that the absence of casualties and limited damage resulting from the Saturday ******* means ******* may now “act in a quieter and more restrained and more reserved manner to somehow bring to a halt a direct confrontation with Iran.”

He acknowledged that Netanyahu is under strain from right-wing groups within the cabinet that are demanding a very “tough and painful reprisal” against *******, but stressed “it’d be a mistake to ******* Iran now. We defeated Iran on Saturday night.”

He added, “[U.S. President Joe] Biden wants to contain the situation, not to allow it to expand, and we all are in the same page with President Biden.”

The U.S. leader, who previously vowed “ironclad” commitment to *******, has told Netanyahu that the White House would not join offensive operations against Iran, a senior administration official told NBC News.

World leaders across Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East have widely called for calm, with Saudi Arabia — a now reconciled former foe of Iran — urging “the utmost levels of restraint.”

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Breaking News: Politics,Politics,Iran,*******,Government and politics,Foreign policy,Benjamin Netanyahu,business news
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