After Iran’s attack, Joe Biden urgently returned to the White House and reiterated his “strong commitment” to Israel

The president of the United States, Joe Bidenhe interrupted his rest in his beach house this Saturday due to the announcement of the Iranian attack on Israel and returned urgency at the White House monitor the situation with his top national security advisors.

Tensions were high among senior U.S. commanders, but they waited eagerly to see what the true extent of Iran’s offensive would be in retaliation for the Israeli attack on its consulate in Damascus that killed a Persian regime commander.

Biden had already said the response against Israel would come “sooner rather than later” and this Saturday He said he will “support” Israel. But the White House hopes the counteroffensive isn’t too big to drag the United States – and its partners – into a larger conflict in which they don’t want to get involved.

Through the diplomatic channels of third countries, the Biden government had warned Iran of the dangers of strong retaliation. Iranian sources told Reuters that Tehran responded that it would respond to Israel’s attack on the Syrian headquarters so as to avoid a serious escalation and that it would not act hastily as Tehran pushes for a truce in Gaza as well.

At the White House they noted that Iran let it transcend the launch of its drones with a window in advance of several hours which gave time to activate the defense shield and minimize the damage in Israel.

Washington also took into account the message from the Iranian mission to the United Nations after the launch, which specified that it would be limited: “Carried out on the basis of Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, relating to self-defense, the action Iran’s military action was a response to the Zionist regime’s aggression against our diplomatic facilities in Damascus. The matter can be closed,” the mission tweeted. And he warned: “If the Israeli regime makes another mistake, Iran’s response will be considerably more severe. This is a conflict between Iran and the rebellious regime of Israel, which the United States MUST STAY AWAY from!”

Israel had not previously informed the American government of the attack that its army launched against the Iranian consulate in Damascus and which caused friction between Biden and Netanyahu. The United States assured Iran that it had nothing to do with that offensive, but also warned it not to use that attack as a pretext for further escalation in the region.

Although Israel is a historic ally of the United States, Biden does not want to be involved in a broader conflict and less to support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom he had strong clashes. Furthermore, a prolonged war would become an internal problem for the president, who is in the midst of a re-election campaign against Donald Trump and his handling of the Middle East issue is already having a negative impact on the Democrat’s position. surveys.

Biden had been monitoring the situation with his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. But after it became known that Iran had launched the drone offensive, the president decided to return from his beachside residence in Rehoboth to Washington on Saturday afternoon.

The president sat directly in the “situation room”, the room where senior security officials meet when there is an emergency situation, to “discuss the situation in the Middle East”, the government said in a statement.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived there; Secretary of State Antony Blinken; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Q. Brown; CIA Director Bill Burns, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines; National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and other officials. Vice President Kamala Harris and Chief of Staff Jeff Zients participated via video.

After the meeting, the American president shared a message in which reiterated its “strong commitment” with “Israel’s security against threats from Iran and its proxies.”

Biden and Netanyahu had a very tough phone call days ago in which the head of the White House imposed the conditions on him to continue with historic support for Israel if the prime minister did not take some concrete measures to protect civilians and volunteers in Gaza and had not said by telling him that he was “outraged” by the attack on 7 humanitarian workers from the World Central Kitchen in the Strip.

The prime minister has opened an opening to the north and has adopted some measures to expand food revenues. But it is still not enough for Biden, who does not want further surprises that further complicate the explosive regional panorama.