The Israeli military, on Benjamin Netanyahu's orders, has prepared a plan for multi-day strikes on Iran's civilian infrastructure, including power plants, as well as nuclear and government facilities, according to three informed sources.
Per those reports, the bombardments were set to begin on October 10, on the eve of Israel's general elections scheduled for October 27. Tel Aviv had urged Washington to join the military campaign, but Donald Trump ruled out a resumption of hostilities before the US congressional elections on November 3.
The new wave of strikes was to surpass in scale the US-Israeli military operation at the start of the war that broke out in late February, when the hottest phase of the conflict lasted about a month and a half. Israeli intelligence has now drawn up a new list of targets, many of which had never been hit by missiles before.
It is unknown whether the US is in principle ready to resume strikes together with Israel. "It is not ruled out" that this will happen in the coming weeks, one of the sources said. "There will either be an agreement [with Iran] or an attack," he added, suggesting the United States wants to force Tehran to accept its terms on the Strait of Hormuz and the nuclear program.
The choice of the plan's timing is no coincidence: October 10 falls two and a half weeks before Israel's elections, while Trump's position is tied to the US congressional elections in November. In other words, the timeline of the military decision is closely intertwined with the two countries' domestic political agendas, and it is precisely that factor that is so far holding back the strikes.
The change in the target list is also noteworthy. Whereas the previous campaign mainly concerned military facilities, now the list includes power plants and government buildings, implying an impact on ordinary citizens' daily lives. Such an expansion also raises the likelihood of Iran's retaliation, so the situation in the coming weeks could change far faster than it seems.
