Biden says US knows how it will respond to Jordan attack
He says he holds Iran “responsible” but the US doesn't need “a wider war in the Middle East.”
President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he’s decided how the U.S. will retaliate after a drone strike in Jordan killed three American soldiers.
Biden did not detail how the administration plans to respond, or when those actions would be taken. But, during a brief back-and-forth with reporters outside the White House, he said he’s not seeking a war with Iran, even though he held the nation somewhat responsible for the attack.
“I do hold them responsible in the sense that they’re supplying the weapons to the people who did it,” Biden said as he left for campaign events in Florida. “I don’t think we need a wider war in the Middle East. That’s not what I’m looking for."
The remarks were Biden’s first since the weekend drone strike launched by Iranian proxies on a U.S. base in Jordan, which killed three troops and wounded dozens more. Biden spent much of Monday huddling with his national security team, weighing options for a response.
The White House has refused to specify what choices were presented to Biden, vowing only to respond forcefully on its own schedule. Yet among the possibilities, officials told POLITICO, were striking Iranian personnel in Syria or Iraq or Iranian naval assets in the Persian Gulf.
White House officials have also stressed that, even as the U.S. is obligated to retaliate, there’s little appetite for escalating the already tense situation across the region.
“We do not seek another war. We do not seek to escalate,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Monday. "But we will absolutely do what is required.”
