US condemns Iran attack on Israel as major escalation
Over 180 missiles have been launched at Israel from Iran in retaliation for its campaign against Tehran’s Hezbollah allies in Lebanon.
The United States has warned Iran it will face severe consequences for its ballistic missile attack on Israel, saying the barrage marked a significant escalation but appeared to have been thwarted.
President Joe Biden expressed solid US support for Israel and described Iran’s attack on Tuesday as ineffective. He said there was a discussion under way about how Israel would respond, and he planned to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
US military forces in the region helped Israel and its air defences defeat the attack and the Biden administration was consulting with Israeli officials on next steps, said US national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said the assault was in retaliation for recent Israeli killings of militant leaders and aggression in Lebanon and Gaza. Its forces used hypersonic Fattah missiles for the first time, and 90 per cent of its missiles successfully hit their targets in Israel, the Revolutionary Guards said.
No injuries were reported in Israel, but one man was killed in the occupied West Bank, authorities there said.
Israeli officials promised consequences for the onslaught. Israeli Major General Herzi Halevi said in a statement: “We will choose when to collect the price, and prove our precise and surprising attack capabilities, in accordance with the guidance of the political leadership.”
Washington backed up its longtime ally.
“We have made clear that there will be consequences, severe consequences, for this attack, and we will work with Israel to make that the case,” spokesman Jake Sullivan said at a White House briefing.
“This is a significant escalation by Iran, a significant event,” Sullivan told reporters at the White House.
“We have made clear that there will be consequences, severe consequences, for this attack, and we will work with Israel to make that the case.”
Sullivan did not specify what those consequences might be, but he stopped short of urging restraint by Israel as the US did in April when Iran carried out a drone and missile attack on Israel.
Biden was reported to have urged Netanyahu to “take the win” and refrain from retaliation after Iran’s April attack to avoid a wider regional war, given that Israel was largely unscathed.
Iran’s ballistic missile attack marks a steep escalation of tensions in the region, despite months of intense negotiations by the Biden administration and regular pledges that a ceasefire to end the Gaza conflict was imminent.
Biden, in the waning months of his term, already faces sharp criticism at home and abroad for US military support of Israel, as does his Vice President and the Democrats’ presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Former president Donald Trump issued a statement after Iran’s missile launch but didn’t directly address the strike.
“Iran has been exporting terror all over the world, and it’s been just unravelling. The whole Middle East has been unravelling,” said Trump, who will face Harris in the November 5 election.
Harris said Iran was a dangerous and destabilising force in the Middle East and Washington was committed to Israel’s security.
Iran fired a salvo of missiles at Israel in retaliation for Israel’s air and ground campaign against Tehran’s Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, and Israel vowed a “painful response” against its enemy.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vowed that if Israel struck back, Tehran’s response would be “more crushing and ruinous”.
Israel said it intercepted more than 180 missiles launched from Iran.
The Pentagon said two US Navy destroyers fired about a dozen interceptors against Iranian missiles aimed at Israel.
US officials said they had no warning from the government of Iran that they were going to launch such an attack.
“No notice was given to the United States prior to our response; however, a serious warning was issued afterwards,” the Iranian mission said in a statement.
Analysts suggested Israel could hit back harder this time.
“Iran’s missile attack greenlights a counterstrike by Israel, potentially the final showdown blow that Prime Minister Netanyahu has been seeking for years,” said Laura Blumenfeld, a Middle East analyst at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies in Washington.
By: Jeff Mason, Simon Lewis and Matt Spetalnick/Reuters
