Israel considered conducting a counterstrike against Iran on Monday night but eventually decided to postpone it, Axios reported on Wednesday citing Israeli and US sources.
The report stated, citing two Israeli officials, that on Monday, the Israeli War Cabinet considered giving the IDF the green light for a strike against Iran. However, later that night, a decision was made not to go through with it "for operational reasons."
One US official recounted that Israeli officials notified the Biden administration on Monday about the upcoming war cabinet meeting and said they would brief the U.S. about the decisions. After the cabinet meeting, Israeli officials told the Biden administration the decision was to wait.
"We are not sure why and how close it was to an actual attack," a US official told Axios.
International powers, including the Biden administration, have been pressing Israel not to retaliate to Iran's attack to prevent further escalation. At the same time, Israeli officials are split regarding the time and nature of a retaliation.