Israel unlikely to attack Iran before elections – media

Netanyahu has dismissed reports that he wants to launch new strikes on Tehran ahead of the parliamentary vote There is a widespread belief within Israel’s political and security establishment that the country will not attack Iran ahead of the October 27 parliamentary elections, Ynet News reported on Thursday.The report comes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Army Radio on Wednesday that it would be “inconvenient” to launch preemptive strikes against Iran at this time. He claimed, however, that “Iran’s proxies” were planning to fire rockets at Israel.“Even if Iran fires missiles at us, they will blame me,” he said, adding that Israel would retaliate against any attack.Netanyahu sought to dispel speculation following a Channel 12 report claiming that he had urged the US to strike Iran before the Israeli elections and the US midterms scheduled for November 3. Axios cited a US official earlier this week as saying that Netanyahu “seems to want to go in again” against Iran. Netanyahu’s office denied the claims. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly hinted in recent weeks that he could resume the bombing campaign if Iran does not accept his terms. American media outlets have...