White House says Iran, proxies could launch ‘significant set of attacks’ on Israel this week

White House spokesman John Kirby says Washington shares Jerusalem’s assessment that Iran and/or its proxies could launch the major attacks that they have threatened against Israel this week.

“We share the same concerns and expectations that our Israeli counterparts have with respect to potential timing here. Could be this week,” Kirby tells reporters.

“We have to be prepared for what could be a significant set of attacks,” he adds.

Kirby says the US has increased its regional force posture in recent days.

“We obviously don’t want to see Israel have to defend itself against another onslaught, like they did in April. But, if that’s what comes at them, we will continue to help them defend themselves,” Kirby notes.

He adds: “It is difficult to ascertain at this particular time if there’s an attack by Iran or its proxies what it could look like.”

“The president is confident that we have the capability available to us to help defend Israel should it come to that,” Kirby says, adding, “Nobody wants to see it come to that.”

Iran has threatened retaliation against Israel for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the assassination.

Kirby also notes that the timing of any attack could affect Gaza hostage-ceasefire talks, currently scheduled to resume on August 15.

Everyone needs to show up for talks on Thursday, he says.

Israel has confirmed that it will send a delegation to the talks, while Hamas has refused to attend.