Scoop: Biden told Bibi U.S. won't support an Israeli counterattack on Iran

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Axios

6 hours ago


President Biden told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a call on Saturday that the U.S. won't support any Israeli counterattack against Iran, a senior White House official told Axios.

Why it matters: Biden and his senior advisers are highly concerned an Israeli response to Iran's attack on Israel would lead to a regional war with catastrophic consequences, U.S. officials said.

Iran launched attack drones and missiles against Israel on Saturday night local time in retaliation for an airstrike in Syria that killed a top Iranian general.

"More than 200 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles were fired from Iran," IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said. Most of the threats were intercepted outside of Israeli airspace, he said.

A U.S. defense official earlier said U.S. forces in the region shot down Iranian-launched drones targeting Israel.

Behind the scenes: Biden told Netanyahu the joint defensive efforts by Israel, the U.S. and other countries in the region led to the failure of the Iranian attack, according to the White House official.

"You got a win. Take the win," Biden told Netanyahu, according to the official.

The official said that when Biden told Netanyahu that the U.S. will not participate in any offensive operations against Iran and will not support such operations, Netanyahu said he understood.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke on Saturday with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant and asked that Israel notify the U.S. ahead of any response against Iran, a senior Israeli official said.

Read more: https://www.axios.com/2024/04/14/biden-netanyahu-iran-israel-us-wont-support

[Tetrachloride]

1. very presidential

avoid canned dog food.

[niyad]

10. Canned dog food?? Could you explain?

[Tetrachloride]

11. I am being sarcastic in that I perceive the conversation between Biden to Netanyahu to be, shall we say, lenient.

Sometimes, I don't have the exact words so I use nonsequitors until I sort things out, or things sort themselves out.

[Irish_Dem]

2. Biden very carefully navigating treacherous waters.

And doing it quite well.

Traps are being set for him and he knows it.
We can see by his responses.

[Scrivener7]

3. The right thing to do, but if Bibi goes ahead and

does it anyway, Biden will pay at the polls. Israel needs to get rid of Netenyahu.

[babylonsister]

5. I'm thinking this is exactly a distraction

for the Israeli people so they won't care so much about getting rid of their mad man.

[Scrivener7]

6. I hope it works.

[Autumn]

4. Nice.

Thank the universe we have Joe.

[peggysue2]

7. This is why we're fortunate to have Joe Biden in the WH

A further escalation could be catastrophic for the region and the world. Biden has sent the right message at the right time. The ball's in Netanyahu's court. If the man goes ahead and attacks Iran, he'll bring a full-fledged war to Israel and will be fully accountable. Can't see how that helps him politically.

Thank you, President Biden.

[Enquiring_Mind]

8. Joe is right - Israel wants an escalation

and they needed to be reeled in.

[NH Ethylene]

12. They need to know if they want to keep escalating

That they are on their own. There is no reason the US should have to be involved when Bibi is provoking others despite Biden's call for caution.

I am fearful that we would be pulled in anyway though.

[drray23]

9. that is an interesting piece of information

"More than 200 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles were fired from Iran," IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said. Most of the threats were intercepted outside of Israeli airspace, he said.

So, the bulk of the incoming missiles and drones werent intercepted by the Iron dome, it was the US/UK (and i read Jordan and Saudi Arabia as well) who did so.

If Iran really wanted to impact Israel, they could have asked Hezbola to launch a massive missile attack from Lebanon. Much shorter distance and it could have overwhelmed the iron dome like the Hamas attack did on October 7th which resulted in over 3000 rockets fired at Israel.

The fact they launched from Iran and used a mix of long-range missiles and slow drones means they weren't expecting to be really successful, rather they wanted to send a message in retaliation to the earlier IDF attack on one of their compound in Syria.

In fact, after the attack they made the statement that they considered the matter closed in regard to this. We shall see if Netanyahu takes the bait and escalate the conflict further. If he does, It is going to be very hard for President Biden to not be dragged into it. Despite his statement to Netanyahu, I would be surprised if we did not help anyway.