US President Joe Biden expressed hope on Saturday that Israel’s latest airstrikes on Iran signal the end of a period of tension in the Middle East.

“It looks like they hit nothing but military targets. My hope is that this is the last time,” he told reporters in Philadelphia, where he spent time being briefed by the intelligence community early Saturday.

The president said he received a warning before the Israeli attacks. Biden administration officials said the United States was not directly involved in the attack but consulted closely with Israel.

A senior US administration official said before this weekend’s attacks that Biden had “encouraged” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to consider a retaliatory strike against Iran that would “deter future attacks against Israel.”

American officials I was waiting Israel will retaliate against Iran sometime before November 5; It’s a timeline that will put rising instability in the Middle East squarely in the public eye just days after the American presidential election.

Ultimately, a very calculated Israeli response shows this: US can still influence Israel’s actions Geopolitical analyst HA Hellyer told CNN he could be in the area “any time he wants.”

CNN’s Catherine Nicholls contributed to this post.