A senior United States official told the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation, Monday, "We see an increase in Iranian motivation to attack Israel and other countries in the region. The reason, among other things, is the Iranian desire to break the cycle of sanctions - to create a threat that might remove them."
Israeli officials have linked the motivation as a reaction to actions that Iran attributes to Israel. Iran carry out the attacks with cruise missiles and precision missiles. The official said the US is taking steps designed to be a deterrent to such attacks, including sanctions such as those announced on Monday against nine people close to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.