Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant discussed with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin operational and strategic cooperation, as well as the readiness of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for attacks from Iran, the ministry’s press service reported on Monday.
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“At night, Defense Minister Yoav Galant had a conversation with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The ministers discussed operational and strategic coordination in light of recent events,” the press service said in a statement.
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Galant spoke about the IDF’s preparedness to threats from Iran and its allies, and also discussed the coordination of the actions of the Israeli and American armies in the region.
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The press service noted that the Israeli minister emphasized the urgency of reaching an agreement on the release of the hostages and thanked the United States for its assistance in this matter.
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At the end of July, the head of the Politburo of the Palestinian Hamas movement, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed as a result of an Israeli strike on his residence in Tehran, where he had arrived to participate in the inauguration of the new Iranian president. The movement blamed Israel and the United States for Haniyeh’s death and said the attack would not go unanswered. Israeli officials said they had no comment on Haniyeh’s killing. The United States is not involved in the death of the head of the Hamas politburo, Robert Wood, the United States Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, said.
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On the evening of July 31, the American newspaper New York Times, citing sources, claimed that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ordered a direct strike on Israel in response to the murder of Haniya in Tehran. Later, Iran’s permanent representative to the UN, Amir Said Irvani, said at a meeting of the UN Security Council that Tehran, following international law, reserves the right to self-defense in order to respond to the murder of Haniya when it deems it necessary.
