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SvennoJ 3 days ago
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What we know about the Biden administration's response to Iran's missile attacks

Tuesday’s attack in Israel was a “significant escalation” by Iran with more than 200 ballistic missiles shot toward the country, the White House said Tuesday. US Navy destroyers fired roughly a dozen interceptors against the Iranian missiles

Iran’s attack against Israel today was twice as large as Iran’s attack in April, Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday.

Here’s what we know about the Biden administration’s response to the attacks:

White House comments on attack’s impact:

  • National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said at a press briefing Tuesday that Iran’s attack “appears to have been defeated and ineffective.” Sullivan said the US and the IDF were still trying to assess the impact of the attack and stressed that it was still early in that assessment. He called the matter “a fluid situation.”
  • While the US has been warning citizens in the region for some time about the possibility of escalating attacks, Sullivan said there was the US had “not begun triggering a noncombatant emergency evacuation… and do not have an intention to do so at this time.”

Administration braced for Iran’s retaliation for weeks:

  • In recent weeks, as Israel carried out targeted attacks on top Hezbollah and Hamas leaders and the outlook for negotiations over ceasefire proposals in Gaza and Lebanon grew dim, the Biden administration has been bracing for potential retaliation by Iran or its proxies.
  • Following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh carried out by Israel in Tehran, the Pentagon in early August said it was moving military vessels and aircraft across the region to bolster the US’s defense capabilities. A week later, the White House echoed Israeli intelligence that showed an Iranian attack could be imminent – a warning voiced before Israel’s top spy agency carried out a complex operation detonating thousands of pagers and walkie talkies carried by some Hezbollah operatives and a targeted strike in densely-populated Beirut that killed Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah.

Inside the Situation Room meeting:

  • US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris convened a meeting Tuesday in the White House’s Situation Room, where they met with top national security officials.
  • According to the White House, the two “reviewed the status of U.S. preparations to help Israel defend against these attacks and protect U.S. personnel in the region.”