Israel said to suggest US wait to strike Iran until heat further turned up on regime

Israeli and Arab officials have suggested the Trump administration hold off on striking Iran for now, believing that the Islamic Republic may not be sufficiently weakened in order for an American attack to topple it, NBC News reports.

Citing a US official, an-ex US official briefed on the matter, a person familiar with Israeli leaders’ thinking and two Arab officials, the network says that the Israeli and Arab officials prefer the US wait to strike until the Iranian regime is further stretched.

The report says these messages were relayed in talks held the past few days involving US political and military leaders.

According to NBC, Israeli officials told their American interlocutors that they strongly support regime change and US efforts to bring it about, but are worried that foreign military action may not be enough.

They also reportedly suggested the US act in other ways to destabilize the regime and support the protesters, who could do more to undermine the Islamic Republic until strikes could have a decisive role. Among the actions that NBC says Israel proposed are assisting Iranians get around the communications shutdown, toughening economic sanctions, engaging in a cyberattack or launching targeted strikes against specific senior leaders in Iran that could help spur the regime’s demise.

One of the Arab officials quoted in the report says there is a “lack of enthusiasm from the neighborhood” for an American attack on Iran at the moment, while the other is worried that “any attack or escalation by Israel or the US will unite Iranians.”