The White House promised, on Monday, significant retaliation for the drone assault on a military base in Jordan, which resulted in the deaths of three American soldiers. President Joe Biden attributed responsibility to Iran-supported insurgents, signaling a forthcoming response.
The White House on Monday vowed a “very consequential response” to a drone attack on a base in Jordan that killed three American troops, with President Joe Biden blaming Iran-backed militants.
They were the first US military deaths in an attack in the region since the Israel-Hamas war began.
Though the casualties raised fears of an escalating conflict, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Washington is not seeking a wider Middle East war. The response will be “very consequential,” Kirby told CNN Monday.
“But we don’t seek a war with Iran. We’re not looking for a wider conflict in the Middle East,” he added.
Kirby would not speculate on the options being considered by the president, including whether targets inside Iran were on the table.
He said Washington wants to make clear that the attack—part of a series of other increasingly dangerous assaults by Iran-backed militants in the region in recent weeks—are “unacceptable.”
Iran said it had nothing to do with the attack and denied US and British accusations that it supported militant groups responsible for the strike on the remote frontier base in Jordan’s northeast, near the borders with Iraq and Syria. Foreign Iranian Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani described the accusations as “baseless” and “projection.”
While the United States is still gathering the facts, Biden said on Sunday, “We know it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq”. He pledged to hold “all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing.”
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron joined Biden Sunday in blaming “Iran-aligned militia” and called on Tehran to “de-escalate the region.”
‘Regional Explosion’
A spokesman for Iran-backed Hamas, Sami Abu Zuhri, said the Jordan attack was a message that the continuation of fighting in Gaza “risks a regional explosion.”
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said late on Sunday the attack had hit the remote Tower 22 logistics support base and that 34 personnel were also wounded, eight of whom required evacuation.
There are around 350 US Army and Air Force personnel at the base who operate in support roles, including for the international coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group, CENTCOM said.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
