The US president said he did not want to spark a regional war, but would respond to the first deadly attack on US troops.
President Joe Biden said he had decided to respond to a deadly drone attack on U.S. troops in Jordan, but stressed he had no intention of calling for a broader war in the Middle East.
“Yes,” Biden told reporters at the White House on Tuesday when asked if he had decided to respond to Sunday's airstrike that killed three U.S. soldiers on a military outpost near the Jordan-Syria border. .
The US president did not elaborate on the decision, which was made after consultation with top White House advisers.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Air Force One as Biden was en route to Florida that the U.S. could respond multiple times.
“It is natural to expect that we will respond in an appropriate way, and what we are seeing here is a step-by-step approach, potentially multiple actions in nature, not just a single action. “It's very sensitive,” he said.
The president previously blamed Iranian-backed groups for carrying out the first deadly attack on U.S. troops in the Middle East since Israel launched a war in the Gaza Strip in October.
He did not go into detail about what actions he would take, but when asked about concerns that fighting Iran could escalate a broader conflict, he said: “I would like to start a broader war in the Middle East. I don't think it's necessary,” he said. That's not what I'm looking for. ”
Asked if Iran was responsible for the attack on Jordan, Biden said, “I think Iran is responsible in the sense that it is supplying weapons to the people who carried out the attack.''
Asked if direct ties with Iran had been established, he added: “We will have that discussion.”
Iran's government said it had nothing to do with the attack and denied US accusations that it supported the militants behind it.
The 81-year-old US president faces mounting pressure in an election year, with Republicans calling on Democrats to punish the Iranian attack, with some even calling for a direct attack on Iran itself.
The Biden administration believes that an attack on Iranian territory could trigger a regional eruption, increasing the likelihood of attacks on Iranian-backed militias and possibly Iranian Revolutionary Guards facilities in other countries. US media reported that.
The White House on Monday promised a “very serious” response.
Tensions have soared in the region following the Jordanian attack, already destabilizing after Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel and Israel's devastating response in Gaza.
Concerns have been raised about the possibility of a regional conflagration amid attacks on Red Sea shipping by Yemen's Houthi rebels and near-daily cross-border shelling between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. There is.
In recent weeks, Iranian-backed militants have stepped up attacks on U.S. military bases in Iraq and neighboring Syria in response to Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip.
Iranian-backed groups describe their attack as retaliation for Washington's support for Israel's war in Gaza and say it is aimed at forcing American troops out of the region.
In recent months, the United States has struck targets in Iraq, Syria and Yemen to counter attacks on U.S. forces in the region and to stop Iranian-backed Houthi rebels from continuing to threaten commercial shipping in the Red Sea. I've done it.
The Kremlin, a close ally of Tehran, on Tuesday called for de-escalation of tensions in the Middle East.
“In our view, the overall level of tension is very worrying and, on the contrary, now is the time to take steps to de-escalate tensions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow. said.
“This is the only thing that can help prevent further escalation of conflicts, especially those in the Middle East, and somehow achieve deconflict and de-escalation.”
China also warned against a “chain of retaliation” in the Middle East.
Beijing has close ties to both Russia and Iran, and all three countries seek to challenge what Washington claims to be global hegemony.