US President Joe Biden has said he does not support any potential Israeli retaliatory strike on Iranian nuclear sites after Iran launched around 180 missiles at Israel.
Tensions are high between Iran and Israel after the Iranian attack on Tuesday, which Israel said was mostly repelled by its missile defence system.
“Would you support an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites by Israel?”
So far, the White House has given no public indication of how it believes Israel should respond to Iran’s attack.
“Make no mistake, the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel,” Biden added.
US President Joe Biden has said he does not support any potential Israeli retaliatory strike on Iranian nuclear sites after Iran launched around 180 missiles at Israel.
After Iran’s Tuesday attack, which Israel claimed was primarily stopped by its missile defense system, tensions between the two countries are high.
The commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, Brig-Gen Abbas Nilforoushan, Hassan Nasrallah, the political head of Hamas, and Ismail Haniyeh were all killed, according to Iran, which is why they launched the barrage.
In an effort to destroy Hezbollah’s alleged “terrorist infrastructure” in border villages, which it claimed was supported by Iran, Israel also declared it would launch a ground invasion into Lebanon prior to its attack.
The US has led lengthy negotiations on a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas in Gaza and has frequently called for de-escalation, but these efforts have not resulted in a ceasefire.
Vice-President Kamala Harris and Vice President Joe Biden made their remarks to reporters on Wednesday while touring hurricane damage in North Carolina.
A reporter questioned Biden, “Would you support an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites by Israel?”.
He answered, “The answer is no.”.
He continued by saying that the US “will be discussing what they’re gonna do” with the Israelis.
He added that all seven G7 leaders with whom he had conferred agreed that Israel “has the right to respond, but they should respond proportionately.”.
“It’s clear that this was an unprecedented escalation by Iran,” stated US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller during a briefing.
Israel is entitled to a retaliation.
So far, the White House has given no public indication of how it believes Israel should respond to Iran’s attack.
In a video message on Tuesday, Biden said that at his direction, US military forces in the region had helped shoot down the missiles fired from Iran.
He said the Iranian attack had been “defeated and ineffective”, calling it “a testament to intensive planning between the United States and Israel to anticipate and defend against the brazen attack we expected. “.
“Make no mistake, the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel,” Biden added. We’re having discussions about what that response will be”.