President Joe Biden said he does not support Israel carrying out retaliatory strikes on Iranian nuclear sites even as the United States looks at ways to defend its ally.
“The answer is no,” Biden told reporters at Joint Base Andrews when asked about Israel considering any strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program.
“All seven of us agree that they have a right to respond, but they should respond proportionally,” Biden said, referring to Group of Seven allies.
It is the first time Biden has definitively come out against strikes on Iran after it carried out a massive missile attack against Israel on Tuesday. The president’s comments also come after national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that Iran would face “severe consequences” for the strike.
“We are now going to look at what the appropriate next steps are to secure, first and foremost, American interests, and then to promote stability to the maximum extent possible as we go forward,” Sullivan told reporters.
Sullivan did not specify what the next steps could be, but he denounced the missile strikes as a “significant escalation.”
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“We have made clear that there will be consequences, severe consequences,” he said. “We will work with Israel to make that the case.”
Iran’s missile attack against Israel came just days after Israeli forces assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The strikes were largely considered ineffective by U.S. officials, who cited one civilian death so far.