President Joe Biden is weighing different options for retaliation against an Iran-backed terror group following the death of U.S. soldiers in Jordan.
The president has met with his national security team twice since the attack, according to White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby. But he wouldn’t confirm whether the president had yet decided on a course of action.
“It requires a response, make no mistake about that,” Mr. Kirby told reporters on Jan. 29.
“We will weigh an additional set of options. ... and the president will make his decision to respond appropriately. The attacks need to stop.”
Although the administration has repeatedly claimed that Iran is “responsible” for the attack, Mr. Kirby said that an investigation into which group launched the attack hadn’t yet concluded.
Moreover, he said, the Biden administration wouldn’t seek an all-out war with Iran.
“That’s up for Iran to decide and for Iran to speak to,” Mr. Kirby said.
Republicans Demand Military Action
The deadly attack on U.S. troops in Jordan is just the latest in an increasingly widespread conflict between the United States and Iran-backed elements throughout the Middle East.U.S. troops have come under attack more than 160 times in Iraq, Syria, and the Red Sea since October 2023, when the nation pledged its support for Israel’s war in Gaza.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have all issued statements blaming the Biden administration for the attack in Jordan and demanding a robust military response against Iran itself.
“We must respond to these repeated attacks by Iran and its proxies by striking directly against Iranian targets and its leadership,” Mr. Wicker said.
“The Biden administration’s responses thus far have only invited more attacks. It is time to act swiftly and decisively for the whole world to see.”
Mr. Kirby rebuffed arguments that the administration’s tit-for-tat exchanges with Iran-backed groups had invited the latest attack.
The president, he said, would decide on what course of action to take when an investigation into the latest attack was concluded.
“The idea that we have somehow laid down and not pushed back on Iran is simply not borne out by the facts,” Mr. Kirby said.
Administration Blames Iran for Attack
While the administration hasn’t formally acknowledged the perpetrator of the drone attack on Tower 22 in northern Jordan, Sabrina Singh, the deputy Pentagon press secretary, said that the Iran-backed terror organization Kata'ib Hezbollah had its “fingerprints” on the incident.“We know that Iran funds these groups,” Ms. Singh told reporters on Jan. 29.
“We know this is an IRGC-backed militia,” she said, referencing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
To that end, Ms. Singh said that “Iran bears responsibility” for the attack, and that the United States would “respond at a time and place of our choosing.”
Still, the Biden administration wouldn’t seek to escalate the conflict into an all-out war with Iran, she said, dismissing the idea that Iran itself was seeking a war.
“I wouldn’t say that the conflict is spreading,” Ms. Singh said.
“Frankly, we don’t see Iran wanting to seek a war with the United States.”
For his part, Mr. Kirby said that the attack in Jordan was fundamentally different from the dozens in Iraq and Syria by virtue of the fact that American lives were lost. That alone, he said, justified a different response.
“It’s fundamentally different now because we have three families who just got the worst possible news,” Mr. Kirby told reporters.
“That’s different.”
