Video: Biden tells reporters he has decided to respond to drone attack in Jordan
The White House blamed Iranian-backed militias for a deadly drone attack on a US military base in Jordan, as the US considers how to fight back.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said U.S. intelligence believes the Iraqi Islamic Resistance group was responsible for Sunday’s attack.
President Joe Biden did not elaborate, saying he had already decided what the U.S. response would be.
The airstrike killed three U.S. soldiers and injured at least 40 others.
“What our intelligence community is satisfied with is that this was done by an umbrella group,” Kirby said at his daily news conference Wednesday.
He referred to Iraq’s Islamic Resistance Group, which has already claimed responsibility for the attack.
The national security spokesperson reiterated that the U.S. response “will occur at a time and manner of our choosing, and on our schedule.”
“Just because you haven’t seen anything in the last 48 hours doesn’t mean you won’t see anything in the future,” he says.
“The first thing you see won’t be the last,” he added.
Biden has said he does not want to escalate conflict in the Middle East, already destabilized by the Israel-Gaza war that broke out in October.
Iran denies involvement in the drone attack.
Revolutionary Guards commander Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, said at an event Wednesday that the Iranian government was hearing “threats from American officials.”
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“No threat will be left unanswered,” he added.
His remarks came a day after Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeed Iravani, told Iranian journalists in New York that Iran would “resolutely respond” to any attack on the country, according to state news agency IRNA. Ta.
While the US government considers its response, Iraq’s Islamic resistance group Kataib Hezbollah announced on Tuesday that it had halted operations against US forces to avoid “embarrassing” the Iraqi government.
Three U.S. soldiers based at Fort Moore in Georgia were killed in a drone attack in northeastern Jordan.
U.S. officials confirmed Wednesday that at least 41 National Guard members were injured.
The wounded soldiers are from units based in Arizona, California, Kentucky and New York.
According to the U.S. National Guard Bureau, 27 people were able to return to duty, and the remaining 14 remain under medical evaluation.