Hegseth meets Netanyahu on unannounced visit ahead of October 27 election
Key Facts
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an unannounced visit to Israel, Axios reported on October 19. The meeting followed Netanyahu's comments on his position on another pre-emptive strike against Iran before the Israeli election. Reuters quoted him in a report published on October 14 as saying he did not support carrying out such a strike before the vote. Israel and Iran had not exchanged fire since June, according to the situation described by Reuters in its report preceding the visit. The Hegseth-Netanyahu meeting thus comes after the two countries stopped exchanging fire and after the Israeli prime minister outlined his position on the timing of any new attack.
On the U.S. side, Axios quoted a White House official as ruling out an attack on Iran by President Donald Trump before the midterm elections. The official told the outlet: "We will not attack Iran at any time before the midterm elections." In the background to U.S.-Israeli talks on Tehran, Reuters quoted an Israeli official in a report published on July 29 as saying Trump and Netanyahu had discussed options to curb Iran's nuclear programme at an earlier meeting. The options the official listed in his account of that meeting included diplomacy, economic pressure and the use of force. But he also said Netanyahu had not told Trump that Israel preferred, at that time, to launch additional attacks on Iran.
Trump had previously criticised Israel's decision to attack a major Iranian gas field, according to the Associated Press. The attack he criticised took place during the first weeks of the war, targeting an Iranian energy facility. On the Gulf side, Axios reported that Saudi Arabia and Qatar had expressed concerns about a possible Iranian response targeting Saudi energy facilities. The concerns reported by the outlet involved retaliatory strikes on Saudi oil and gas facilities, placing those facilities within the scope of Gulf concerns over escalation. Those concerns appeared in an Axios report published on September 17, before the unannounced visit to Israel by the U.S. defence secretary reported by the outlet.
On economic pressure against Tehran, the U.S. Treasury Department announced measures targeting 17 vessels on October 8. The department classified the targeted vessels as part of the "shadow fleet" carrying Iranian energy exports. It said in its statement that the vessels were responsible for transporting millions of barrels of Iranian crude, as well as petroleum and petrochemical products. The shipments identified in the statement thus included crude oil, products derived from it and petrochemicals, while the announced measures focused on the vessels transporting them. The Treasury announcement followed the earlier talks that Reuters quoted an Israeli official as saying had included economic pressure among the options for addressing Iran's nuclear programme.
The oil market had previously moved in response to developments involving Iran, with Reuters reporting that Brent futures rose nearly 1% on September 28. The contracts closed that session at $105.28 a barrel after Trump rejected a peace deal with Iran, according to the agency. That move in September preceded Hegseth's visit reported by Axios in October. In a later session, Brent rose 4% at settlement on Thursday, October 8, according to a Reuters report published the following day. Thursday's rise also came before the meeting, following the gains recorded by the contracts when the peace deal with Iran was rejected.
Politically, Trump endorsed Netanyahu's re-election on Sunday, according to the Associated Press, before Hegseth's visit reported by Axios. The Israeli prime minister responded to the endorsement by saying: "Together we will finish the job!" With the vote approaching, Axios reported that most opinion polls still put Netanyahu's coalition short of the majority needed to form a government. That majority is 61 seats, the threshold Axios said the coalition remained below in most polls. Israelis are scheduled to vote in the election on October 27, according to the Associated Press.