The Trump administration has not told the Israeli military whether the United States plans to join the war on Iran, two Israeli defense officials said on Saturday.
But the two officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss security matters, said they believed that Washington was likely to enter the war and that it was already making preparations to do so.
Based on Israeli conversations with their American counterparts over the past two days, the officials said, a U.S. strike on Iran could take place in the coming days.
President Trump was scheduled to meet with his national security team at the White House on Saturday evening to discuss the possibility of joining Israel’s attacks on Iranian nuclear sites. While the White House has said Mr. Trump has not made a final decision on an attack, the United States has dispatched several Air Force B-2 bombers from an American base and across the Pacific.
The bombers can carry the 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs Mr. Trump is considering dropping on Fordo, the heavily fortified underground nuclear facility in Iran that is critical to its nuclear program.
The planes could provide options to the president, even if they are not ultimately deployed.
Israeli forces launched attacks against several sites in southern Iran on Saturday, targeting sites for missile launchers and radars in the Ahvaz region, which would most likely be on any potential flight path used by U.S. warplanes on the way to strike Fordo.
Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Israel’s strikes in southwestern Iran could be an attempt to open up those flight paths.
“That is probably the most optimal corridor,” he said. But, he added, American bombers could approach Fordo from various directions.
Mr. Takeyh said the attacks were also most likely aimed at weakening Iran’s commercial centers and oil infrastructure in the south, as well as Iranian military sites.
“As this ratchets up,” he said, “you begin to see an expansion of the targets.”
The Israeli military also said it had struck sites storing munitions and drones in southwestern Iran in the city of Bandar Abbas on Saturday. Iran activated its air defense systems in Bandar Abbas and other cities, according to Mehr news agency, which is affiliated with the Iranian government.
Explosions were reported in the southern cities of Ahvaz, Dezful and Mahshahr, according to the Mehr news agency. An emergency center in Hoveyzeh, a city in near Ahvaz, was also hit, according to a statement by Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences.
In moving the B-2 bombers — and allowing the public to know about it — the White House may also be seeking to pressure Iran to come to the negotiating table.
Iran maintains that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, and on Saturday, the country’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said that Iran refused to reduce nuclear activities to zero “under any circumstances,” according to Mehr.
On Saturday, the two Israeli defense officials said Washington had asked the Iranians to consider several potential frameworks for a cease-fire agreement. The Iranians have conveyed a willingness to negotiate, according to the officials, but the Americans view the Iranian response so far as a nonstarter.
Ronen Bergman is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, based in Tel Aviv.
Javier C. Hernández is a Times reporter who covers classical music, opera and dance in New York City and beyond.
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