Israel-Iran tensions: Biden says ‘nothing going to happen’ on Thursday
First of all, we don’t ‘allow’ Israel, we advise Israel, US president says
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden said he did not believe any Israeli strikes against Iran would come on Thursday, as the region tensely awaits a response to Tehran’s massive missile attack on Israel.
“First of all, we don’t ‘allow’ Israel, we advise Israel. And there is nothing going to happen today,” Biden told reporters at the White House when asked if he would allow Israel to retaliate against Iran.
On Wednesday, Biden said Israel should hold off from attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities, as Group of Seven nations sought to tamp down a spiraling conflict that threatens to pull the US even deeper in.
Asked if he would support such a response, which some Israeli politicians have called for, Biden responded, “The answer is no.”
Also read
“All seven of us agree that they have a right to respond, but they have to respond proportionally,” Biden said.
The comments marked a fresh US attempt to rein in Israel, something it’s frequently failed to achieve in almost a year of military conflict. Israel has defied calls from Washington for a ceasefire in Gaza, and on Wednesday pressed ahead with a ground incursion against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon despite pressure from the US to de-escalate on that front.
Dynamic has shifted since April
The likelihood of the conflict easing appeared even more out of reach as initial assessments came in from Iran’s strike on Tuesday, in which it fired about 200 ballistic missiles at Israel. Some of them got through and caused damage at Israeli military sites, though only one person was reported killed.
In Lebanon, Israel said eight of its soldiers were killed in clashes with Hezbollah, the first casualties it’s reported in an expanding ground incursion targeting the Iran-backed militia there.
Netanyahu’s government — along with other Israeli leaders — has threatened reprisals against Iran. Yair Lapid, an Israeli opposition leader and former prime minister, said Iran must pay “a significant and heavy” price, while Naftali Bennett, one of Netanyahu’s rivals, called for Israel to “destroy Iran’s nuclear programme, its central energy facilities.”
Those calls highlighted how the dynamic has shifted since April, when Israel hit back at a smaller Iranian missile barrage with a limited strike on an air base that caused little damage. Other options included targeting the OPEC member’s oil infrastructure or military bases. Potentially the most extreme scenario would be an attack on its nuclear facilities.
“The next issue is how Israel responds,” said Wendy Sherman, who served as the State Department’s No. 2 official until 2023. “If you’re precise in your response, you can do exactly what you want to do and no more. But if something goes awry, you can escalate past the point that you wanted to escalate.”
The US, which classifies Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorist groups, has stepped up military and financial support for Israel since the conflict began. Biden administration officials have also spent months calling for restraint in the Israeli campaigns in Gaza and now Lebanon.