This comes after Israel had concluded that international pressure and US saber-rattling had persuaded Iran to leave it to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to strike Israel for blowing up Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant shared his country's latest assessment with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in a Sunday conversation, Axios reported -- telling Austin that Iranian actions signify the country is readying a major strike. Also on Sunday, Gallant told an Israeli Defense Forces unit that Iran and Hezbollah "are threatening to harm us in a way they haven't done in the past."

Israeli intelligence's see-sawing assessment reflects an ongoing debate inside the Iranian government, a source with access to the intelligence told Axios: 

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps [IRGC] is pushing for a more severe and broader response than Iran's April 13 attack on Israel, but the new Iranian president and his advisers believe a regional escalation now wouldn't serve Iran's interests, the source said.

A Pentagon spokesman said Austin assured Gallant that America is committed "to take every possible step to defend Israel and noted the strengthening of U.S. military force posture and capabilities throughout the Middle East in light of escalating regional tensions."

The strengthening of the US force posture included the deployment of the USS Georgia guided missile submarine to the Central Command theater. Armed with up to 154 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles, the Kings Bay, Georgia-based vessel recently completed joint training exercises in the Mediterranean with force recon Marines and special operations forces, including units from the UK, Norway and Italy. Austin also ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, already steaming to the conflict zone laden with F-35C and F/A-18 fighters, to "accelerate its transit", the Pentagon said.