WASHINGTON — Top Pentagon officials spoke with Israeli officials on Thursday about Iran's threat to Israel, hours before suspected Israeli strikes hit an Iranian military base outside Isfahan in apparent retaliation for the first-ever direct Iranian attack on Israel.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, on Thursday evening Israeli time, a Pentagon official said. Earlier on Thursday, the Pentagon said that its top policy chief, Melissa Dalton, Middle East policy director Dan Shapiro and US Army Maj. Gen. Joseph McGee, Joint Staff vice chief for strategy and planning, had taken part in a virtual meeting with top Israeli officials hosted by Jake Sullivan, US President Joe Biden's national security adviser, at the White House.
The virtual meeting focused on Israel's planned military operation in Rafah. It began, however, with discussions of Iran's April 13 counterattack against Israel "and the collective efforts to further enhance Israel’s defense through advanced capabilities as well as cooperation with a broad coalition of military partners," according to a White House readout of the call.
Iran launched an unprecedented barrage of more than 300 armed drones and cruise and ballistic missiles toward Israel Saturday night and into Sunday, seriously injuring a seven-year old girl near the southern town of Arad and causing limited damage at one Israeli military base in the Negev.
The Iranian counterattack came in response to Israeli airstrikes that killed seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel, including the IRGC Quds Force's top commander for the Levant, at the Iranian Consulate in Damascus on April 1.
The high-value nature of Israel's targets in the Damascus strike caught Pentagon officials off guard, prompting Austin to press Gallant for assurances on closer coordination on Israeli actions in the future.
Iran-backed forces across Iraq and Syria have previously targeted US troops in those countries in response to Israeli strikes on IRGC-linked targets.
Before dawn on Friday, explosions were reported at an Iranian base near Qahjaverestan, northeast of Isfahan, in an incident widely attributed to Israel. CNN reported that Israeli officials had offered assurances that Iran's nuclear sites would not be hit, a concern US officials have long shared with their Israeli counterparts.
A US official speaking not for attribution declined to say whether Pentagon officials had forewarning of the strike outside Isfahan on Friday. Bloomberg reported that Israeli officials notified the United States earlier on Thursday that they planned to respond to Saturday’s attack in the next 24 to 48 hours.
