Israeli forces at the site of an Iranian rocket strike in Ashdod, Israel.

JERUSALEM—Israel is looking to wrap up its war with Iran soon, Israeli and Arab officials said, capitalizing on the unprecedented U.S. attack on key Iranian nuclear sites to accelerate an end to the fighting that is stretching its troops, munitions and coffers.

Israel expects to complete strikes on its list of top military targets in Iran in the coming days, which Israeli officials said would provide a window to stop the fighting. The officials said they didn’t expect a retaliatory attack Monday by Iran on a U.S.-run military base to change their calculus.

Iran said it launched 14 missiles—mirroring the number of U.S. bombs dropped in Iran—at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar after sending prior warning to authorities in Doha, a limited strike that appeared aimed at avoiding further escalation. There were no U.S. casualties, Qatar said.

After the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities over the weekend, and Tehran’s retaliatory attack on the American-run base, President Trump announced a cease-fire had been reached between Israel and Iran. In a post on his Truth Social site, the president said the cease-fire would be implemented in phases and within 24 hours would lead to an end to the war. Israel and Iran didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel was “very very close” to achieving its goals but didn’t lay out a specific timeline. He added that Israel wouldn’t be dragged into a war of attrition.

The U.S. has told Arab officials in the region that Israel is seeking to end the fight soon, Arab officials say, and has asked for the message to be passed along to Iran. The State Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Many of the aircraft at the U.S. base Iran attacked on Monday had been relocated in recent days as prospects of an Iranian strike from across the Persian Gulf loomed, and Iran’s prior warning gave Qatar time to prepare, including by closing its airspace. Israeli officials and analysts say the retaliation won’t affect Israel’s decision to wind down the fighting.

“This is a response from Iran to the U.S. It doesn’t affect the Israeli timeline or calculations,” said Yoel Guzansky, a former Gulf expert for Israel’s National Security Council and now at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies.

Iranian officials have said they wouldn’t engage on a diplomatic proposal that entailed them giving up their nuclear enrichment program and that they didn’t think U.S. officials were sincere about offering the country an off ramp, the officials said.

“We of course aren’t interested in a war of attrition, but we also have to say that the ball in some ways is in Khamenei’s court,” said Yuli Edelstein, an Israeli lawmaker in Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, referring to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Still, Edelstein said, Israel could continue to expand its list of targets against Iran, after achieving air superiority that allows it to strike at will.

At the same time, Trump has directly threatened Iran with regime change if it didn’t come to the negotiating table.

President Trump and senior U.S. officials signaled they wanted the fighting to end after the U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear sites.

Israel appears to be making similar threats by expanding its military operation to sites synonymous with the regime. On Monday, Israel hit Evin prison, where political prisoners and regime opponents are held; the headquarters of the Basij volunteer force, which helped suppress protests to maintain control over the Iranian population; the internal security headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; and the “Destruction of Israel” clock in Palestine Square in Tehran, which counts down to 2040 by when Iran says Israel will cease to exist.

Israeli security analysts said the strikes were aimed at forcing a quick end to the conflict by showing the regime that dragging out the war wasn’t in its interest. At the same time, the attacks on Tehran help mollify those in Israel who say Israel must topple the regime now while it has the chance.

“They are trying to pressure the regime,” Guzansky said. “If it succeeds, it may also shake the regime’s stability.”

Even if a diplomatic deal is reached with Tehran, Israel is prepared to use the Israeli air force to strike Iran in the future if the regime moves to reconstitute its nuclear-enrichment program or build up its ballistic-missile arsenal, the Israeli officials said.

Israel has followed a similar model in Lebanon, where it continues to strike Iran’s ally Hezbollah regularly despite a cease-fire agreement reached in September with Beirut.

Israel struck June 15 at the Sharan Oil depot in Tehran.

Should Iran continue to attack Israel once Israel finishes its target list, Israel will also keep fighting, said an Israeli official.

Unlike the Lebanon model, Israel wouldn’t attempt to carry out frequent strikes in Iran as it does against Hezbollah in Lebanon, said Giora Eiland, a former Israeli national security adviser. The approach would differ, he said, because Lebanon has a government that seeks to prevent renewed hostilities with Israel, while Iran almost certainly would immediately retaliate. Instead, he said Israel would likely only attack if Iranian efforts to rebuild its nuclear or long-range missiles program were reaching a critical mass.

Israeli lawmakers from Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party have conveyed similar messaging in public statements since the American strikes. Some were eager to present the achievements as conclusive, even though Israel hasn’t yet completed its battle-damage assessment of the Fordow nuclear site, which the U.S. struck with heavy bombers.

There isn’t conclusive evidence of the damage to Iran’s nuclear program from U.S. and Israeli strikes, and it isn’t clear whether Iran has managed to secrete its stockpile of highly enriched uranium that could be used to make a bomb in the future.

“So from that point of view the war aims haven’t yet been achieved,” said Chuck Freilich, a former Israeli deputy national-security adviser.

Despite its military advantage, Israel has a number of reasons it might prefer to end the operation as soon as it can.

Security forces in Haifa, Israel, who were at the scene of an attack, run for cover as another siren sounds Sunday.

The war in Iran is one of the costliest in recent decades, with an estimated cost of hundreds of millions of dollars daily, with the bulk of the expenses going to intercepting Iranian missiles. Unprecedented damage to buildings across the country, including in its financial capital, Tel Aviv, is mounting. Israel’s finance ministry said Monday that it estimated the damage to buildings so far to add up to around $1.3 billion. Economists say Israel’s economy can’t sustain a prolonged conflict.

And after more than 20 months of war since the Hamas attacks in Israel in October 2023, Israelis are exhausted, especially reservists who are repeatedly called up to fight on different fronts.

“At the end of the day, we need this calm almost like the Iranians,” said Eiland.

Write to Dov Lieber at [email protected], Anat Peled at [email protected] and Summer Said at [email protected]