Joe Biden said he would not support attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities in retaliation for Tehran’s missile attacks on Israel.
“The answer is no,” the US president told reporters on Wednesday, saying Israel’s response must be ‘proportional’.
Leaders of the G7 countries are preparing for new sanctions against Iran. Biden spoke after Israel’s security cabinet decided to take direct military action against Iran, perhaps in the next few days, according to The Telegraph.
Everyone immediately realised that Israel had to respond to the massive attack from Iran, even though UN chief Guterres called for a ceasefire immediately after the attack and is now “persona non grata” in Israel.
“All seven of us agree that Israel has the right to respond, but they should respond proportionately,” Biden said, without going into detail about what such a military response might look like (NTB-AFP)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken fears that a retaliatory strike against Iran’s nuclear or oil facilities could send the Middle East into a spiral of further chaos.
“The United States has made it clear for some time now that we don’t want to see this tip over into full regional escalation. Israel has the right to respond and we will continue to discuss with them what such a response might look like. But we don’t want any actions that could lead to full regional war,” said Blinken spokesman Matthew Miller on Wednesday.
Biden’s statement conflicts with the thinking of many in Israel.
Naftali Bennett, a popular former Israeli prime minister and Benjamin Netanyahu’s main election challenger, urged him to “destroy [Iran’s] nuclear project, destroy their major energy facilities and critically target this terrorist regime.”
But oil refineries, harbours, weapons stockpiles and even the country’s fragile water infrastructure are more likely targets than nuclear facilities, according to analysts. It’s also possible that Israel will go after individuals, as it did when it killed Ismail Haniyah in Tehran in July.
Netanyahu has promised retaliation against Tehran, but told the government on Wednesday that this must be coordinated with the US.
“Iran has made a big mistake – and they will pay for it,” he said. “Whoever attacks us, we will attack them.”
As the country’s most important ally and by far its largest arms supplier, co-operation with the US is essential for Israel. The US also helped shoot down some of the ballistic missiles that Iran launched at Israel on Tuesday.
It is believed that Israel needs assistance from the US in order to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities, which are located underground. If Biden says no, the nuclear facilities will survive.
At the same time, Israel must consider how Iran will react to various forms of retaliation.
“We have a big question mark about how the Iranians will react to an attack, but we take into account the possibility that they will go “all in”, which would be a completely different situation,” an Israeli official told Axios.
Public broadcaster Kan quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Israel’s response would not lead to regional war, and reported that the US presidential election next month was a factor in the Israeli deliberations, reports the Times of Israel.
On Wednesday, Israel was attacked with 240 rockets from Hezbollah, and the IDF lost 8 soldiers from the Sayarat Egoz unit in fierce battles with Iranian proxy fighters in southern Lebanon.
