The US has asked Israel to refrain from attacking energy facilities in Iran, particularly oil infrastructure, Axios reports, citing three people familiar with the matter.

The report adds that the request marks the first time the Trump administration has reined in Tel Aviv, and that messages were conveyed at a senior political level and to Israeli Defence Forces Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir.

Axios reports that Washington has made the request because the strikes “harm the Iranian public, a large portion of which opposes the regime”, Trump aims to cooperate with Iran’s oil industry after the war and that attacking energy facilities strikes could trigger massive Iranian retaliatory attacks on energy infrastructure across Gulf states.