President Joe Biden and his national security team monitored Iran’s airstrike on Israel on Saturday as U.S. forces joined efforts to shoot down explosives-laden drones launched from Tehran.
With tensions at their highest levels since the war between Israel and Hamas began six months ago, Biden promised that American support for Israel’s defense against attacks by Iran and its proxies is “ironclad.”
U.S. forces shot down several Iranian-launched attack drones flying toward Israel, according to a U.S. defense official and two other U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.
The defense official said efforts to intercept the attack continue.
Biden had cut short his weekend stay at his Delaware beach house to meet with his national security team at the White House on Saturday afternoon, returning to Washington minutes before Israeli officials confirmed they had detected drones launched toward their territory from Iran.
He called a meeting of top National Security Council members in the White House Situation Room to discuss the evolving situation, the White House said, before speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday evening.
The attack marked the first time Iran launched a direct military attack against Israel, risking a broader regional conflict.
For days, the United States and Israel had been preparing for an attack — claimed by Iran in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike this month on an Iranian consular building in Syria that killed 12 people, including two Iranian Quds Force generals d elite of the Revolutionary Guard.
The Pentagon reported that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had spoken with his Israeli counterpart “to discuss urgent regional threats… and made clear that Israel could count on the full support of the United States to defend Israel from any attack by Iran and of its regional delegates”. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also spoke with his counterpart to reinforce Washington’s “iron commitment to Israel’s security.”
National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement Saturday that “Iran has begun an airstrike against Israel.” She added: “The United States will stand with the people of Israel and support their defense against these threats from Iran.”
Biden on Friday said the United States is “dedicated” to Israel’s defense and that “Iran will not succeed.” When asked by reporters what his message to Iran was, the president’s only response was: “Don’t do it.”
He ignored a question about what would trigger a direct U.S. military response, and when asked how imminent an Iranian attack on Israel was, Biden said he didn’t want to get into hard information, “but my expectation is sooner or later”.
The United States, along with its allies, have sent direct messages to Tehran to warn against further escalation of the conflict.
During the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, there have been almost daily firefights between Israeli forces and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group along the Israel-Lebanon border. U.S. officials have recorded more than 150 attacks by Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria against U.S. forces at bases in those countries since the war began on Oct. 7.
An attack in late January killed three U.S. service members in Jordan. In retaliation, the United States launched a massive airstrike, hitting more than 85 targets in seven locations in Iraq and Syria.
Meanwhile, commandos from Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard lowered themselves from a helicopter onto an Israeli-affiliated container ship near the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday and seized the vessel.
Watson, the NSC spokesman, said the United States strongly condemned the seizure and urged Iran to immediately release the vessel and crew.
“We will work with our partners to hold Iran to account for its actions,” he said.
Also on Saturday, the Israeli-occupied West Bank also saw some of the worst violence since Hamas’ attack on Israel.