Israel would be prepared to take part in any future U.S. strikes against Iran if Washington requested assistance, sources in Jerusalem told The Post, after President Trump said the cease-fire with Tehran was “over.”
“We’ve shown that we stand with the United States,” one source said. “I’m not certain it would be in America’s interest for Israel to join this time, but we understand that we may need to flex our muscles.”
“We’re ready to do it again if necessary,” the person added.
Trump approved a second consecutive day of strikes on Iran on Wednesday, just hours after delivering a blistering denunciation of the Islamist regime at the annual NATO summit, where he described Iran’s leaders as “scum,” “evil,” “loco” and “sick people.”
About 90 targets were hit that evening, compared with roughly 80 on Tuesday. The list included missile and drone launch sites, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command centers, air defense and radar positions, and logistics infrastructure, including railways.
Israel joined the United States in launching the war on Feb. 28, an offensive that eliminated Iran’s ruling leadership and struck key sites. But Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had differed over the timing and terms for ending the fighting, which later spread into Lebanon.
Israel has not taken part in the latest U.S. strikes so far. However, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told reporters Thursday that the Israel Defense Forces are “prepared to strike Iran for the third time — and with greater force than before” if the situation demands it.
Nitsana Leitner, founder of the prominent Israel Law Center and a figure with ties to sources in the Israeli government, said that if the United States asks Israel to stand with it against the Iranian regime, “Israel will be there — not with words, but with action and real military cooperation.”
“While some European allies and high-maintenance treaty alliances respond to Tehran’s evil with empty declarations, Israel has always understood that extremist threats like Iran must be confronted and neutralized, not simply condemned,” she said.
“Europe’s cowardly governments appear far more outraged and combative over Trump’s phone call to FIFA than by the IRGC attacking civilian ships in the Strait of Hormuz and raining missiles on neighboring countries,” she added.
Still, the Jerusalem source noted Israel is “not eager to go back to the day when people have to go to shelters,” referencing the early days of the war that saw Tehran regularly lobbing missiles and drones indiscriminately at the Jewish state.
“At the same time, you know, we don’t want to ignore what’s happening in Iran,” the source said in comments Wednesday before the latest US airstrikes on Iran. “So if that will be the price we’ll have to pay, we will bear with that situation.”
The comments came after Trump told reporters at the NATO Summit in Ankara that his opinion on the Iranians with whom the US has been negotiating had changed dramatically after he “got to know them.”
“They’re cuckoo, there’s something wrong with those people,” Trump said, after Iran attacked three commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz in violation of the 60-day cease-fire that also called for free passage in the waterway.
Netanyahu has not yet publicly commented about the new airstrikes, but has long warned Iran cannot be trusted — and last month declared that Israel will strike Iran “whenever necessary.”
“Israel has every right to self-defense, and we will exercise that right whenever necessary,” he said in a statement aired on Israeli television June 8. “I say this to you just as I say it, with appreciation and respect, in my positive conversations with my friend, President Trump.”
For now, Israeli intelligence assesses that Iran “has no interest in drawing Israel into the conflict” — which is the reason Tehran hasn’t targeted the Jewish state in this volley of strikes, the Jerusalem Post reported Thursday, citing two Israeli officials.
Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz met for a special security consultation Wednesday night as Trump escalated his rhetoric against Tehran, an Israeli official said, without providing details.
The IDF is also on high alert, and its intelligence units are continuously updating target lists and maintaining “close operational coordination” with the US military, Israel’s i24 News reported Thursday.
The Jewish state was long incredulous about the Iranian regime’s motivations in US negotiations.
“We were very skeptical from the beginning about the Iranians’ intentions, but, you know, we respect President Trump’s efforts,” a Jerusalem source told The Post Wednesday. “And I think now everyone realizes that the Iranians are playing a game.”
That skepticism had led to tense — and sometimes profanity-laced — phone calls between Trump and Netanyahu as Washington pursued the now-nixed US-Iran memorandum of understanding.
Most of Netanyahu’s concerns during those calls involved addressing Iran’s ballistic missile threat, which was left out of the US-Iran memorandum of understanding despite it being an early Trump talking point, sources familiar with the calls told The Post.
While Trump had previously called the remnants of the regime now in power more “rational” than their predecessors, Israeli sources said their actions are far more sinister.
“I think you have to look at the regime according to the action of the regime, and basically, when you look at the action of the regime, you don’t see much change,” one source said. “And that’s the important lesson that the president will have to see — that’s what they’re actually doing.”
The person called it “a reality check for all the players” dealing with Iran.
