This White House handout image of President Joe Biden meeting with members of his national security team was taken on April 13, 2024, in the Situation Room at the White House in Washington, DC. Photo credit: White House/Handout (via Reuters)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and his national security team on Saturday monitored Iranian airstrikes against Israel as U.S. forces participated in an operation to shoot down an explosive-laden drone launched by Iran.
read more: Iran fires drones and ballistic missiles at Israel in major retaliatory attack
With tensions at their highest since the Israel-Hamas war that began six months ago, Biden vowed that U.S. support for Israel's defense against attacks by Iran and its proxies would be “ironclad.”
The U.S. military shot down several Iranian-launched attack drones flying toward Israel, according to a U.S. defense official and two other U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.
Defense officials said efforts to thwart the attack were ongoing.
Biden cut short a weekend stay at his Delaware beach house to meet with his national security team at the White House on Saturday afternoon after Israeli authorities detected a drone launched into their territory by Iran. I had returned to Washington a few minutes before confirming.
He convened a key meeting of the National Security Council in the White House Situation Room to discuss the unfolding situation, the White House said.
The attack marks the first time Iran has launched a direct military attack on Israel and risks escalating a broader regional conflict.
The US and Israel had been preparing for an attack for days, but this month an Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria killed 12 people, including two senior Iranian generals from the Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force. The attack was said to be in retaliation for the alleged attack.
The Pentagon says Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will meet with his Israeli counterpart “to discuss urgent threats in the region…” and expects full U.S. support to protect Israel from any attack by Iran and its regional proxies. It was reported that it has become clear that it can be done. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also met with the president's aides to reinforce Washington's “resolute commitment to Israel's security.”
“Iran has launched an airborne attack against Israel,” National Security Council spokesman Adrian Watson said in a statement Saturday. It added: “The United States stands with the Israeli people and helps Israel defend itself against the Iranian threat.”
Biden said Friday that the United States is “committed” to defending Israel and that “Iran will not succeed.” Asked by reporters what his message was to Iran, the president's response was simply, “Stop it.”
clock: Biden predicts Iranian attack on Israel will happen 'sooner or later'
Mr. Biden ignored a question about what would trigger a direct U.S. military response, and when asked how imminent an Iranian attack on Israel was, he said he didn't want to get into secure information but said, “I think we're expecting it sooner or later.'' “
The United States, along with its allies, sent a direct message to the Iranian government, warning of further escalation of the conflict.
During the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza, there have been near-daily gun battles along the Israeli-Lebanese border between Israeli forces and the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah. U.S. officials have recorded more than 150 attacks by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria against U.S. forces based in those countries since the war began on Oct. 7.
An attack in late January killed three U.S. service members in Jordan. In retaliation, the US launched a massive air campaign, hitting more than 85 targets in seven locations in Iraq and Syria.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, special forces from the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guards rappelled onto an Israeli container ship from a helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz and seized the ship.
NSC spokesperson Watson said the United States strongly condemned the seizure and called on Iran to immediately release the ship and its crew.
“We will work with our partners to hold Iran accountable for its actions,” he said.
Saturday also saw the worst violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since Hamas attacked Israel.
Price reported from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington and Mike Balsamo in New York contributed to this report.
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This White House handout image of President Joe Biden meeting with members of his national security team was taken on April 13, 2024, in the Situation Room at the White House in Washington, DC. Photo credit: White House/Handout (via Reuters)
