US President Joe Biden doesn’t back an Israeli retaliatory strike on Iran’s nuclear strike but has striven to build a broad international consensus for a response to the Islamic Republic’s missile strike against the Jewish state Tuesday.
“We’ll be discussing with the Israelis what they’re going to do, but all seven of us (G7 nations) agree that they have a right to respond, but they should respond proportionally,” Biden told reporters before boarding Air Force One. He said he would be speaking soon with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but did not give a timeline for that call.
“Iran is way off board,” he said. “There is going to be some sanctions imposed on Iran,” he stressed.
But when asked if he would support an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Biden said, “No.”
Earlier, Biden joined a conversation with G7 countries — the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom — on the Israeli-Iranian crisis as the proxy war between the two arch-foes threatened to spill over into a larger regional conflict.
“They discussed Iran’s unacceptable attack against Israel” and the need for a coordinated response, including additional sanctions on Iran, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One.
“Biden expressed the United States’s full solidarity and support to Israel and its people, and reaffirmed the United States’s commitment to Israel’s security,” she said.
Israel’s response
Netanyahu promised that Iran would pay a stiff price for its launching of over 180 ballistic missiles on Tuesday. Some analysts said Israel’s response would likely be sharper this time, suggesting it could target Iran’s nuclear or oil facilities.
The United States, was one of four countries whose armies worked together on Tuesday night, together with Israel, the United Kingdom, and France, to defend Israel against the missile attack.
The United States has warned Iran it will face consequences for that attack but has remained focused on diplomacy while Israel has doubled down military resolutions to ensure the security of its situation.
US Deputy Secretary Kurt Campbell said the administration was seeking to align its position with Israel on any response to Iran’s attack but also recognizes the Middle East is on a “knife’s edge” and a broader escalation could imperil both Israeli and US interests.
Speaking at a virtual event hosted by Washington-based think tank Carnegie Endowment, Campbell repeated the US view that what Tehran has undertaken was “deeply irresponsible” and that there must be a “return message.”
“I think we tried to underscore our support for some of the actions that Israel has taken,” he added. “We have a real wariness about an extended or substantial ground set of operations in Lebanon,” Campbell said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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