U.S. President Joe Biden has said he does not support any potential Israeli retaliatory strike on Iranian nuclear sites. Iran had launched nearly 200 missiles at Israel in its largest-ever attack on the country. The Middle East is on edge since the Iranian attack on October 1, which Israel said was mostly repelled by its missile defense system.
“Would you support an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites by Israel?” Biden was asked by a reporter during a trip to review hurricane damage in North Carolina with Vice-President Kamala Harris.
“The answer is no,” he responded.
Iran said the barrage was a response to the killings of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Brig-Gen Abbas Nilforoushan. The attack came after Israel announced a ground assault into Lebanon, in an effort to dismantle what it called Iran-backed Hezbollah’s “terrorist infrastructure” in border villages.
Biden added that the U.S. “will be discussing with the Israelis what they’re gonna do”. He also said that he had consulted with the leaders of other G7 countries and they are all in agreement that Israel “has the right to respond, but they should respond proportionally”.
So far, the White House has given no statement of how it believes Israel should respond to Iran’s attack.
