An Iranian flag is pictured near in a missile during a military drill, with the participation of Iran’s Air Defense units, Iran October 19, 2020. Photo: WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/Files

i24 News – Despite serious disagreements on how to best contain Iran’s nuclear threat, Israel consulted with Washington before recently launching covert strikes against Iranian military sites, showing there was no daylight between the allies, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

The report cited Israeli and US officials briefed on the inner workings of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s and US President Joe Biden’s respective governments.

It is understood that one of the attacks was against the centrifuge production facility in Karaj, and another against an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps missile plant on the outskirts of Tehran.

Overall, officials in Biden’s administrations are finding that Israel under Bennett is much more transparent and cooperative than was the case under his predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu.

There are, however, very real differences between Israelis and Americans on whether diplomatic engagement with Iran is worth pursuing; despite the many bumps in the talks between Iran and Western powers held in the Austrian capital of Vienna, Biden wishes to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, which Israel believes to be inadequate to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

According to the report, the worry in Jerusalem is that the US will eventually reach a deal with the Islamic Republic, and then seek to block the Mossad spy agency from carrying out covert sabotage attacks.

Israel thus seeks a guarantee from the Biden administration that at no point will Washington try to restrain Israel’s sabotage campaign, even in the unlikely event that a renewed nuclear deal is reached.