Middle East, the US threat: “How will we respond to Iran”

The death of three US soldiers in Sunday’s attack on the US base in Jordan by pro-Iranian groups puts Joe Biden, who once again promised a response, in a dangerous political position, having to find a balance between risk, against which the US has been committed since October 7th, with an even greater expansion of the Israel-Hamas conflict. And to show the “weakness” in relation to Iran, of which Republicans and, above all, Donald Trump accuse him in the face of their new and increasingly likely electoral duel in November. “We don’t want another war, we don’t want an escalation, but we will do absolutely whatever is necessary to protect ourselves, continue the mission and respond appropriately to these attacks”, thus also referring to the 160 attacks against US structures in Syria recorded in October Last week, White House Security Council spokesman John Kirby summarized the difficult position Biden finds himself in. And the president himself reiterated in the last few hours that the United States does not need this enlargement. With the murder of the three soldiers, “the red line drawn by the president has certainly been crossed”, highlights retired general Mark Hertling on CNN, explaining that a more robust response is therefore expected from Washington, which may not be limited to a single country or single attack. Although, according to the North American broadcaster, some sources believe that it is unlikely that Biden will order an attack inside Iranian territory.

The Biden administration could decide to strike again at military groups in Iraq and Syria, or both countries, targeting regional militias. With sources explaining to CNN that Washington is very careful not to indicate precisely where and from which militia it launched the drone on Sunday to maintain the surprise effect of the response, limiting itself to saying that it is a group that has the support of pro-Iranian Katàib Hezbollah. “We’re not taking anything off the table,” they say from the Pentagon. Such action, however, might not be enough to make Congressional Republicans who call for Iran, not pro-Iran groups, the target of retaliation. And they remember, in opposition to the weakness of the Democratic president, how Trump ordered the attack in Baghdad in which Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force, was assassinated. “I can tell you that Iran doesn’t care if we give pro-Iran groups a black eye, but it does matter if we give them a black eye,” said Don Bacon, a retired Republican member of the House Defense Committee. General who served in Iraq, who considered “the words of Kirby and others about us not wanting to escalate, we are always worried about escalation, which has already happened, to be nonsense.”

Source: IL Tempo

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