Benjamin Netanyahu: an attack on the Islamic Republic before Israel's election is not in our interest

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, said in an interview with Israeli Army Radio on Wednesday, 14 October 2026, that he does not agree with a US or Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic in the coming days, before Israel's parliamentary election on 27 October, and does not consider such an attack at this point to be in Israel's interest. The remarks came after DIAR's earlier report on his conversation with Donald Trump about a new joint operation against the Islamic Republic.

Israel's Channel 12 television had reported on Tuesday that Netanyahu asked Trump to resume the war with the Islamic Republic before Israel's election and the US midterm elections. The Israeli prime minister's office rejected the report. Israel and the United States have repeatedly played down the possibility of an attack before in order to catch the Islamic Republic by surprise.

Israel Katz's warning to Hezbollah

Israel Katz, Israel's defence minister, warned the same day that if Lebanon's Hezbollah takes part in an Islamic Republic attack on Israel, it will lose more areas of southern Lebanon, including Nabatieh and the Litani River basin, and these areas will become part of Israel's permanent security belt. According to him, the Israeli army is ready for a ground attack, and the Dahiyeh, Hezbollah's area of influence in southern Beirut, will be evacuated and bombed.

The night before, Katz had also accused the Islamic Republic and its proxy groups of trying to influence Israel's election with an attack. Netanyahu, too, claimed on Tuesday in an interview with Channel 14 that the Islamic Republic is seeking to organise an attack through Hamas and Hezbollah in order to influence the election.

Washington's position

A White House official has told Axios that the US president has said he will not attack the Islamic Republic before the midterm elections. Even so, Trump said on Tuesday that his administration will soon decide on the Islamic Republic, and in the Alaska speech he warned that America's patience has run out.

In recent days the Islamic Republic has stepped up attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and some of its officials have spoken of the possibility of sending forces to neighbouring countries if the war resumes.

Netanyahu does not consider an attack on the Islamic Republic before the 27 October election to be in Israel's interest, but Katz warned Hezbollah against joining any Tehran attack.