Joe Biden’s decision to quit the presidential race has emboldened Benjamin Netanyahu to take bolder action against Iran, a senior Israeli official told The Telegraph.

The US president was trying to “restrain” Mr Netanyahu when he was still running for re-election, the official said.

“He told him not to respond too harshly to Iran’s attacks. And Iran knew this, which is why they exploited the situation to attack Israel,” the official said, adding that Mr Biden will now do what he “believes is right”.

“His true agenda is to support Israel fully. And he has done so for decades. Netanyahu knows this, which is why he’s being more bold and feels confident that he can attack Israel’s enemies and still have the full support of the US,” he added.

The official calls Mr Biden’s decision to not seek re-election a “big game changer” in the Middle East as Iran was planning to take advantage of Mr Biden’s campaign.

Preparations for war

Israel is preparing for an Iranian response to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader, in Tehran on Wednesday, protecting sensitive sites across the country and opening extra wards in hospitals.

The US has also upped its military support for Israel in recent days to help defend against ballistic missiles and drones from Iran and its proxies in the region.

Dan Arbell, a scholar-in-residence at the Center for Israeli Studies at American University told The Telegraph that Mr Netanyahu “may feel that he owes less to a lame duck president,” but that he does not believe that is what made him go after the Hamas leader in Tehran and a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut this week.

Mr Arbell said that the change in Israeli responses was likely to do with public opinion and the realisation they needed to change their tactics.

“Biden being a lame duck could play a small role, but I don’t think that’s the ultimate consideration,” he said.

Mr Arbell said that while Biden is supporting Israel and sending aircraft carriers and ammunition and weapons to the region and warning Israel’s enemies, the president is not giving Israel a “carte blanche to do whatever it pleases”.

“I think that any move by him to support Israel he has to take into consideration how that impacts Harris’s standing in the public,” he said.