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WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden has warned Iran against expected attacks on Israel as the United States expands its deployment of troops to the Middle East in anticipation of attacks on Israel and Western interests in the region.
Asked by reporters how close Iran was to attacking Israel, Biden said Friday: “We expect it sooner or later.” He did not go into details.
The president said the message to Tehran was “stop it.”
Iranian leaders have vowed revenge after an apparent Israeli airstrike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, killed seven Iranians, including a leader of the Revolutionary Guards. Israel has not accepted responsibility for the attack.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei condemned Israel, saying it “must be punished and will be punished.”
Army Gen. Eric Kurilla, the commander of U.S. Central Command, is in Israel to discuss a possible attack with local officials, a defense official said.
On Thursday, the State Department issued a red alert for U.S. government personnel in Israel. The security alert notes that incidents can occur without warning and “can change rapidly depending on the political climate and current events.” Employees and their families are restricted from personal travel outside of Israel’s major metropolitan areas.
Also Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called his counterparts in China, Saudi Arabia and Turkey and urged other countries to “urge Iran not to escalate,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. .
At the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke by phone with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. According to a reading of the call, Austin pledged that the United States would provide “full support to protect Israel from Iranian attack.”
A week ago, government officials said an attack by Iran could be imminent. If that did not happen, an attack at the end of Ramadan was considered more likely.
Contributed by: Reuters
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