The West planned for months to deter Iranian long-range attacks – but Israel didn't need them Israel

Tacit plans by the US, Britain and other allies to help Israel deter a long-range Iranian attack have been underway for several months or more – but most of the defense effort appears to have been carried out by Israeli air defense systems.

The only reported military operations in support of Israel were a dozen interceptors fired from two U.S. warships in the eastern Mediterranean, while Jordan said its own air defense systems and air force were involved in attacks on Iranian missiles.

Because Tuesday's Iranian attack involved 181 high-speed ballistic missiles, American or British fighter jets played no role. They had been on standby in the eastern Mediterranean to shoot down slower-moving Shahed drones – as they had done in Iran's previous attack in April, which used a combination of weapons.

John Healey, the British defense secretary, said two RAF Typhoons took off from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus on Tuesday, but although they were “ready for action”, he admitted there was nothing for them to attack. “The nature of the attack was different,” the minister said.

The United States, which reported Monday it was deploying three additional air squadrons to the region, said its warplanes had not attacked Iranian missiles, although Pentagon officials were cautious about whether any had been used for aerial reconnaissance.

Both countries maintain a permanent air presence in and around the Middle East – and increased it in August amid fears that Iran would respond militarily to the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. The United States sent an attack group of warships and fighter aircraft to the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

Overt U.S. military interventions were limited to the USS Bulkeley and USS Cole firing a dozen interceptors, although it was not immediately clear whether they were successful, the Pentagon said. The US also would not confirm which missiles were deployed, although the cost of SM-3 ballistic interceptors ranged from $10 million to $28 million apiece.

Interceptor missiles are more expensive than the missiles they are designed to destroy, and in April U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro told the U.S. Senate that his armed forces had spent $1 billion on munitions used in April to defend and attack Israel was used against the Houthi rebels in Yemen who were targeting commercial shipping.

The cost of interceptors is a key reason why fighter jets are used to combat drones and, ideally, shoot them down with simple shots. But Iran's goal was not only to inflict damage on Israeli airfields and other targets, but also to impose financial costs for aid on the country and its Western backers.

Jordan, a Western ally and recipient of more than $1 billion a year in U.S. military aid, participated again as it did in April, although the success of its efforts was also unclear. The country's public security directorate said Tuesday that the air force and air defense systems “responded to a number of missiles and drones that entered Jordanian airspace,” although its report on drones appears inaccurate.

Where US and other Western support for Israel may have been more significant is in the area of ​​intelligence. Although Iran said it had relayed a warning about its attack through the Swiss embassy in Tehran, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said officials did so only after rockets with a flight time of 12 minutes were fired.

Given that the US had warned about an impending attack about two and a half hours in advance, it is likely that this came from satellite or signals intelligence data or both, possibly from American, British, Israeli or other international surveillance – and the Most of them probably a combination of everything to make a coordinated picture.