The Israeli military has been ordered to prepare for a possible US attack on Iran ahead of President Donald Trump's exit from the White House on Jan. 20.
The move appears due not to any intelligence assessments regarding the Trump administration, but rather senior officials' anticipation of "a very sensitive period" just before President-elect Joe Biden takes office, according to a report by online news outlet Axios, Wednesday.
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According to the report, senior officials have expressed concern the Israel Defense Forces will suffer the brunt of any retaliatory action launched by Iran should Washington decide to act against the Islamic Republic. Possible scenarios could see Iran either striking Israel directly or through its proxies in Syria or allies in Lebanon or the Gaza Strip, according to the report.
Earlier this month, The New York Times reported senior US military officials dissuaded Trump from launching a possible attack against Iran's uranium enrichment facility in Natanz before leaving office.
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The president had raised the idea in a meeting with senior national security officials after being briefed on an International Atomic Energy Agency report that found Iran was continuing to grow its stockpiles of enriched uranium, according to the Axios report.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
