U.S. President Joe Biden conveyed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a recent phone conversation that Washington would not endorse an Israeli counterattack in response to Iran’s drone and missile strike on the Jewish state, as per Axios, citing a senior White House official.
Iran launched over 300 missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles from its territory toward Israel on Saturday night, citing retaliation for Israel’s alleged killing of several IRGC officers in Syria on April 1.
While the United States and other nations aided Israel in intercepting the projectiles, with the IDF reporting a success rate of 99%, American military forces managed to intercept over 100 airborne threats.
Biden reportedly advised Netanyahu to view this as a victory and urged restraint, cautioning against escalating tensions to avoid triggering a regional conflict.
Netanyahu is said to have acknowledged Biden’s stance that the U.S. would not participate in offensive military actions against Tehran.
In a statement from the White House, Biden condemned the Iranian assault, which marked the first direct attack on Israel from Iranian territory.
“At my direction, to support the defense of Israel, the U.S. military moved aircraft and ballistic missile defense destroyers to the region over the course of the past week. Thanks to these deployments and the extraordinary skill of our servicemembers, we helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles,” Biden stated.
“I’ve just spoken with Prime Minister Netanyahu to reaffirm America’s ironclad commitment to the security of Israel. I told him that Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks — sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel.
“Tomorrow, I will convene my fellow G7 leaders to coordinate a united diplomatic response to Iran’s brazen attack. My team will engage with their counterparts across the region. And we will stay in close touch with Israel’s leaders. And while we have not seen attacks on our forces or facilities today, we will remain vigilant to all threats and will not hesitate to take all necessary action to protect our people.”
Iran has threatened a larger-scale attack if Israel retaliates, while also cautioning the United States against further involvement.
“We launched an attack with ballistic and cruise missiles. The operation aimed to strike the air base from which the Israeli planes that attacked the consulate [in Damascus] were launched. The attack hit its targets directly. We only targeted military installations,” said Mohammad Bakri, chief of staff of the Iranian army.
“We conveyed a message to the U.S. that if it cooperates with Israel in the next steps, its bases will not be safe,” he added.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations stated that the attack was in response to the targeting of the consulate in Damascus, despite Israel not claiming responsibility for the attack. Reports indicate that the building hit was a local headquarters of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“If the Israeli regime makes another mistake, Iran’s response will be considerably more severe. This is a conflict between Iran and the rogue Israeli regime, from which the U.S. must stay away,” Iran cautioned.
