Israel Can Help US With Attack on Iran’s Drone Plants, GOP Congressman Says

Florida Congressman Brian Mast suggested that the United States can “benefit” from Israel’s attacks on Iran if the airstrikes are concentrated on Iran’s drone facilities.

Israeli officials confirmed that its military carried out a series of strikes in retaliation to the air raid that Iran launched earlier this month. Iranian media outlets reported that explosions and the sounds of air defense systems being activated around Tehran could be heard Friday night. A spokesperson for Israel’s National Security Council said that its military “is conducting targeted strikes against military targets in Iran as an exercise of self-defense and in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1st.”

Mast, a Republican and U.S. Army veteran, reacted to the reports on X, formerly Twitter, saying that “Israel can reshape the landscape to America’s benefit with these strikes.”

“If they hit Iran’s drone manufacturing facilities that means the Houthis can’t buy drones to attack American ships,” Mast added. “If Israel hits Iran’s oil fields that hurts China—Iran’s biggest petroleum client.”

Two Israeli officials who spoke with the Associated Press said that Israel was not targeting Iran’s nuclear or oil facilities in the airstrikes. It is unclear which sites were targeted in the attacks.

In an email to Newsweek on Friday, National Security Council Spokesperson Sean Savett said, “We understand that Israel is conducting targeted strikes against military targets in Iran as an exercise of self-defense and in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1st.”

A senior State Department official said that the U.S. is not participating in this Israeli military operation. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have also been briefed on the attacks.

Friday’s attacks mark an escalation in the Middle East amid Israel’s conflict with Iranian-backed Islamic militant groups in Lebanon and Gaza. After Iran’s barrage of missiles on October 1, some worried that Israel could respond by targeting the adversaries’ nuclear or oil sites. Sources close to the Biden administration said last week that Israeli officials had assured Washington that it would not hit those sites, but that circumstances could change.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released a statement last week that his administration will “listen to the opinions of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interests.”

Iran’s oil exports dropped around 42 percent in early October over fears that Israel could target its oil sites in retaliation.

Mast, a conservative who represents Florida’s 21st Congressional District, has expressed unequivocal support for Israel during his tenure in Congress. Earlier this month, Mast said during an appearance on Fox Business that he believes “there’s good escalation and bad escalation,” and that the “escalation that Israel is doing” by responding to Iran’s attacks “falls under the good kind.”

Update 10/25/24, 11:47 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and comment from the U.S. State Department.