The Biden administration exerted pressure on Netanyahu to refrain from striking sensitive targets within Iran, aiming to prevent the escalation of tensions into a broader regional conflict.

Axar.az reports that Matthew Bryza, former U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan and international political expert, shared these insights in an interview with the agency concerning the Israeli strike on Iran on 26 October.

“It has been widely reported in US and European media that the Biden administration applied lots of political pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu to respond to Iran's missile attack 3 weeks ago on Israel in a very precise and limited way, and specifically to avoid targeting Iran's nuclear facilities or its oil facilities. And that's that in exchange, it appears the Biden administration then not only agreed to provide but provided within a couple of days, the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense System or THAAD, which is a very high-performing air defense system that knocks out incoming missiles and other projectiles in the terminal stage. In other words, when they're close to hitting ground targets and the US has I don't think ever provided a so-called THAAD system to any other country.”

The expert further suggested that the upcoming U.S. election may have been a contributing factor behind the decision to limit the scope of the strike on Iran.

“So there was a negotiation going on there, given that the obviously the US presidential election is coming up in just under 2 weeks. And so the Israeli strike was limited.”

Iran's actions and harsh response have also diminished as Mr. Bryza suggests

“Iran's response has been much less harsh than in the past. Both the Iranian military and the Foreign Ministry said, well, of course, they condemned the Israeli attack.

And instead of in the past saying they're imminently going to attack and they will cause grave damage to Israel, they quietly calls for everyone to focus on a ceasefire in both Gaza and in Lebanon. So that is a much softer reply than in the past. And also the Iranian official media have been saying nothing, no serious damage occurred. They rescheduled sporting events there, the TV stations were showing weather reports than the usual, you know, anti-Israeli propaganda.

So it looks like for now, both Iran and Israel want to deescalate.”