Israel's response to Iran shows US can influence Tel Aviv "when it wants to," analyst says

 Israel’s highly calculated response to Iran Saturday shows that the United States can influence Israel’s actions in the region “when it wants to,” geopolitical analyst H. A. Hellyer told CNN.

“Israel will calculate its own responses, keeping in mind that the United States is its closest ally, its indispensable ally, and thus far, a pretty solid ally in terms of not placing any conditions or restrictions on how Israel prosecutes the war on Gaza, how it proceeds in terms of strikes and (its) invasion of Lebanon, and of course, these strikes on Iran,” Hellyer told CNN’s Paula Newton on Saturday.

A senior US administration official said that US President Joe Biden “encouraged” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week to “design” a retaliatory attack against Iran that would “deter future attacks against Israel.”

The US also advised Israel against any actions that could escalate tensions in the Middle East more widely, Hellyer, a scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies in London, said.

“I think that the engagement of the US in this regard was significant, but frankly, it also shows when the US wants to push Israel to modify its behavior, it can do so,” he continued. “And as of yet, what we’ve seen is really unbridled for Israel in terms of the war in Gaza and that sort of pressure (could) be welcomed there.”