Biden Says He Has Decided On Iran Response

Tue, 30 Jan 2024 23:34:14 +0000
World

By Patsy Widakuswara

U.S. President Joe Biden said he has decided on how his administration will respond to the drone attack by Iran-backed militants on a U.S. base in Jordan that killed three American soldiers and wounded a dozen others over the weekend.

“Yes,” Biden told reporters as he left the White House Tuesday for fundraisers in Florida. Sunday’s attack was the first to take the lives of U.S. service members in the Middle East since Israel’s war with Hamas erupted in Gaza on October 7.

An umbrella group for Tehran-backed militias called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed responsibility for the attack on the base near the border with Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon said the attack has the “footprints” of Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah.

Asked if this coming response will actually deter Iran, Biden said, “We’ll see.”

Iran-backed groups have launched more than 160 strikes on American military facilities in the region, despite retaliatory attacks from Washington. Houthi militias, another Tehran proxy, have also continued their missile and drone attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea despite multiple U.S. airstrikes against their launch sites and infrastructure in Yemen.

Biden underscored what he and his officials have repeatedly said, that Washington is not seeking more conflict.

“I don’t think we need a wider war in the Middle East. That’s not what I’m looking for,” he said.

Coming up with a response that would deter further actions by Iran and its proxies while avoiding an all-out war that could spin out of control in the region is a tough balancing act. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the guiding principle is to ensure the U.S. degrades the groups’ capabilities to attack American troops and facilities, while sending a “strong signal to their backers” in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“The president will do what he has to do to protect our troops and our facilities and to look after our national security … interests in the region,” he said, adding that Biden’s order will be a “tiered approach” encompassing “potentially multiple actions.”