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President Joe Biden heads to the Oval Office at the White House on April 13, 2024 in Washington, DC. The president returned to the White House from Wilmington, Delaware, to confer with his national security team after Iran announced it had launched dozens of attack drones. Israel early this afternoon.Photo by Bonnie Cash/Reuters
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden cut short a weekend stay at his Delaware beach house to meet with his national security team at the White House on Saturday and monitor the situation in the Middle East as Iran launches attacks against Israel. Ta.
read more: Israeli military says Iran launches drone towards Israel, it will take several hours to arrive
“Iran has launched an airborne attack against Israel,” National Security Council spokesman Adrian Watson said in a statement Saturday. He added: “The United States stands with the Israeli people and helps Israel defend itself against the Iranian threat.”
Biden boarded a presidential helicopter and returned to Washington from a park near his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Saturday afternoon, just before Israeli authorities confirmed they had detected a drone being launched from Iran into their territory. He was scheduled to convene a key meeting of the National Security Council in the White House Situation Room to discuss the events and plan the U.S. response.
The Pentagon says Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will meet with his Israeli counterpart “to discuss urgent threats in the region…” and expects full U.S. support to protect Israel from any attack by Iran and its regional proxies. It was reported that it has become clear that it can be done. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also met with the president’s aides to reinforce Washington’s “resolute commitment to Israel’s security.”
Biden said Friday that the United States is “committed” to defending Israel and that “Iran will not succeed.” Asked by reporters what his message was to Iran, the president’s response was simply, “Stop it.”
clock: Biden predicts Iranian attack on Israel will happen ‘sooner or later’
Mr. Biden ignored a question about what would trigger a direct U.S. military response, and when asked how imminent an Iranian attack on Israel was, he said he didn’t want to get into secure information but said, “I think we’re expecting it sooner or later.” “
The United States, along with its allies, sent a direct message to the Iranian government, warning of further escalation of the conflict.
During the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza, there have been near-daily gun battles between Israeli forces and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group along the Israeli-Lebanese border. U.S. officials have recorded more than 150 attacks by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria against U.S. troops stationed at bases in those countries since the war began on Oct. 7.
An attack in late January killed three U.S. service members in Jordan. In retaliation, the US launched a massive air campaign, hitting more than 85 targets in seven locations in Iraq and Syria.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, special forces from the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guards rappelled onto an Israeli container ship from a helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz and seized the ship.
National Security Council spokesman Adrian Watson said the United States strongly condemned the seizure and called on Iran to immediately release the ship and its crew.
“We will work with our partners to hold Iran accountable for its actions,” he said.
Saturday also saw the worst violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since Hamas attacked Israel.
Price reported from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
left:
President Joe Biden heads to the Oval Office at the White House on April 13, 2024 in Washington, DC. The president returned to the White House from Wilmington, Delaware, to confer with his national security team after Iran announced it had launched dozens of attack drones. Israel early this afternoon.Photo by Bonnie Cash/Reuters
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