by Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch
President Biden ordered retaliation for the deaths of U.S. troops after a Sunday attack on a U.S. base in Jordan, approving plans for significant strikes against Iranian-controlled facilities in Iraq and Syria, CBS News reported Thursday.
The response, expected to begin as soon as this weekend, will occur over several days and be “tiered,” mixing military actions with other steps that can be adjusted to signal that Washington doesn’t seek further escalation, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Tehran, eager to stave off a direct war with the U.S., ordered Iranian commanders to leave bases in Iraq and Syria that could become U.S. targets, hoping to head off high-profile killings that, in Iranian eyes, would require a response.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Friday that his country will defend itself. “We will not start any war, but if anyone wants to bully us they will receive a strong response,” he said in a televised speech. “Before, when they [the U.S.] wanted to talk to us, they said the military option is on the table. Now they say they have no intention of a conflict with Iran,” Raisi continued.
The Iran-backed militia group Kata’ib Hezbollah announced Wednesday it suspended military operations against U.S. forces. The U.S. has said the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella militia group backed by Iran, was responsible for the attack on U.S. forces.
On Thursday, Yemen’s Houthi rebels were still attacking vessels and fired a ballistic missile at a Liberian-flagged container ship in the Red Sea.
At this point, it’s time to take away even more capability than we’ve taken in the past,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a Pentagon news conference Thursday.
ABC News: U.S. forces responded Thursday and hit Houthi UAVs and a ground control station in Yemen.
Biden hopes to pressure Iran to rein in attacks by groups it supports but which it might not directly command.
Domestically, some Republican critics have bashed Biden, who is campaigning for reelection, labeling him an “appeaser” who is leery of using force to deter America’s enemies.
Austin said the U.S. sought to “hold the right people accountable” without escalating the conflict in the region.
“The dilemma for the Biden administration is to try to bloody Iran’s nose without touching it,” Ali Vaez, the Iran director for the International Crisis Group, a conflict prevention organization, told CBS. “The problem is each side retaliates against the other, it generates the need for a counterstrike and this vicious cycle continues, and at a certain point it will explode.”
Meanwhile, the conflict in the Middle East is widening. Biden used an executive order Thursday to punish some Israeli settlers in the West Bank, where Palestinians imagine a future state. The U.S. imposed sanctions on four Israeli men it accused of being involved in settler violence in the West Bank, signaling growing U.S. displeasure with the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who opposes a two-state solution promoted by the U.S. for decades.
The Biden administration revived talks to broker ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, part of efforts to prepare for a future in Gaza if Hamas is defeated. The Hill’s Laura Kelly reports that Biden could help secure a major foreign policy win before the November election. Hypothetically, the president could get Republicans to rally around Israeli-Saudi normalization, which would help counter Riyadh’s skeptics in the Democratic party.
“I will do all I can as a Republican to help President Biden to bring about normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on the Senate floor in mid-January, following a trip to Jerusalem and Riyadh.
“Not only do we pray for peace,” Biden said Thursday during a National Prayer Breakfast held annually in the Capitol, “ we’re actively working for peace, security, dignity for the Israeli people and the Palestinian people.”
The president said he understands the “pain and passion felt by so many here in America and around the world” in response to the “trauma, the destruction in Israel and Gaza.”
“We value and pray for the lives taken and for the families left behind,” he continued.
“For all those who are living in dire circumstances, innocent men, women and children, held hostage or under bombardment, or displaced not knowing where the next meal will come from, or if it will come at all.”
3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY FROM THE HILL
- The president and first lady Jill Biden today will attend the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base of the remains of U.S. service members killed in action in a drone attack Sunday, a solemn ceremony witnessed by grieving relatives.
- Meta is money. On Thursday, it reported quarterly profits of $40.1 billion, up significantly from a year ago, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg credited in part to a “leaner” company after 18 months of layoffs. Its ads business is up and the company is focused on AI.
- Groundhog Day: In the nation’s capital, residents enjoyed spring last week. In Buffalo, N.Y., a change of seasons is a long way off. In Pennsylvania this morning, a giant rodent plucked from darkness and held aloft for TV by a man in a top hat will render a prediction about winter — based on a shadow. Is this a great country, or what?