Deadly attack on US base
Washington: We don’t want war with Iran
January 29, 2024, 10:20 p.m
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Three US soldiers die in a drone attack in Jordan. President Biden blames pro-Iranian militias for the crime and vows retaliation. Washington now says they don’t want a war with Tehran. But there will be a reaction.
Despite President Joe Biden’s announced retaliation after the deaths of three US soldiers in a drone strike in Jordan, the White House says it does not want war with Iran. “We are not looking for war with Iran. We are not seeking conflict with the regime through military means,” National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby said in Washington. They don’t want another war or escalation. “But we will do what is necessary to protect ourselves.”
According to the US Central Command for the Middle East (Centcom), three US soldiers were killed and more than 40 others injured in the shelling of a military base in northeastern Jordan near the border with Syria on Sunday night. US President Joe Biden immediately blamed pro-Iranian groups and threatened retaliation. Pro-Iranian militias in Iraq later claimed responsibility for the attack and said they had attacked four US military bases, including three in Syria, on Sunday morning. Northeast Jordan borders both Syria and Iraq.
“We know that Iran is behind it”
Iran denied any connection to the attack. The accusations were made with the political aim of “reversing the realities in the region,” the state news agency Irna quoted foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani as saying. The armed groups in the region received no instructions from Iran. “We know that Iran is behind it,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh. Iran is responsible because it finances these groups that operated in Iraq and Syria and carried out attacks on US soldiers.
According to the White House, Biden met with his crisis team on Sunday and today in the Situation Room, the operations center in the West Wing of the White House. Asked about a possible retaliation, Kirby said: The US would follow its own timetable and act in a manner that the president as commander in chief sees fit.
US soldiers and their allies were again shot at in Syria today. “Several missiles were fired at US and coalition soldiers,” said a Defense Department official in Washington who wished to remain anonymous. Nobody was injured.
According to the Defense Department, soldiers of the US Army and its allies in Iraq and Syria have been attacked more than 150 times since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose alliance of armed groups with ties to Iran, claimed responsibility for many of the attacks.