BERLIN, August 2. /TASS/. The United States will provide Israel with any support needed if Iran attacks it, but Tel Aviv is not asking for military aid, including from the United States, Tzachi Hanegbi, head of Israel’s National Security Council, said.

"We are not asking for military support from anyone, not even the United States. We do not need their troops," Hanegbi told the Bild newspaper. "American soldiers will not have to shed blood for us."

However, the top security official is convinced that the Jewish state will definitely receive support from the United States in case of Iran’s attack.

"No doubt. We will get support from the United States that has been very close to us all along," he said in response to a question. Hanegbi recalled that President Joe Biden was the first sitting US president to travel to Israel during a war and who said he was unwaveringly committed to that country’s security.

"We have very good ties with the White House. The prime minister was there a few days ago. Our friendship is stronger than ever," Hanegbi said.

Earlier, Lieutenant General Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s armed forces chief of staff, said that Iran and its regional allies would go to great lengths to take revenge on Israel for the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, chief of the radical Palestinian movement Hamas’ political bureau.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that the United States was preparing to send additional combat aircraft to the Middle East amid rising tensions in the region. According to the newspaper, the plan stems from the possibility of an Iranian strike on Israel following the assassination of Haniyeh in an Israeli strike targeting the place he was staying in Tehran, where he attended the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. The Al Hadath broadcaster reported that Haniyeh was killed when a missile struck the building. Mousa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, assured that this assassination would not go unpunished. A source with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told TASS that the IDF does not comment on information about Haniyeh’s death.