PM Bennett says Israel ‘knows to act alone’ against Iran after Blinken vowed ‘collective response’ to ship attack

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Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned on Tuesday that Israel is capable of acting against Iran on its own, after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised a “collective response” to an Iranian drone attack on a tanker transiting through international waters near Oman last week.

Bennett said that “Iran knows the price that we exact when someone threatens our security.”

He added that the government is working to ensure that Israel has international support, “but meanwhile, we also know how to act alone. The Iranians must understand that it’s not possible to sit calmly in Tehran and set the whole Middle East on fire. That is over.”

Bennett’s comments come after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised a “collective response” to an Iranian drone attack on the tanker transiting through international waters near Oman last week.

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“We are in very close contact in coordination with the United Kingdom, Israel, Romania, and other countries. And there will be there will be a collective response,” Blinken said at a regular news briefing.

The United States was confident that the attack last Friday was carried out by Iran, Blinken said. However, the Secretary of State said that the attack was one in a series of actions taken by Iran over many months, and that he was not sure it was “anything new or augurs anything one way or another for the new government.”

“But what it does say is that Iran continues to act with tremendous irresponsibility,” Blinken added.

Iran denied any involvement in the attack, in which two crew members – a Briton and a Romanian – were killed. After the United States, Britain and Israel blamed Iran for the attack, Iran warned of a “strong” response to any move that threatens Tehran’s security.