Israel tells US will not hit Iran's nuclear or oil facilities: Media reports

Israel has assured the White House that a planned retaliatory attack on Iran won't target nuclear or oil facilities, US media reported.

Israel has vowed to counterattack after Iran fired ballistic missiles at it on October 1 in response to Israel's killing of a senior general in Iran's Revolutionary Guard and top allies of Tehran in the region.

Citing unnamed US officials, the Washington Post said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had reassured the White House that a counterstrike it is contemplating would target only military sites.

The Wall Street Journal, also citing US officials speaking on condition of anonymity, said the pledge came in a call between US President Joe Biden and Netanyahu last week, as well as in conversations in recent days between US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant.

The plan "was met with relief in Washington," the Washington Post reported.

Biden has warned Israel against striking Iran's nuclear or oil facilities in order to avoid a further expansion of regional war and amid worries of a spike in global energy prices.

Nevertheless, a statement from Netanyahu's office on Tuesday said that Israel will listen to the United States but will make its own decisions based on its national interest.

The statement was attached to the Washington Post report on Netanyahu telling the US administration that Israel would strike Iranian military, not nuclear or oil, targets.

(with inputs from AFP and Reuters)