US prepares for "multiple actions" against Iran-backed groups

2024-01-31 08:58:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

US prepares for "multiple actions" against Iran-backed groups

Joe Biden

As the United States prepares for "multiple actions" in response to a drone attack by Iran-backed militants that killed three American soldiers, Kataib Hezbollah, one of the most powerful groups in Iraq, which supports from Iran, announced that it was suspending all its military operations against US forces in the region.

US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he has decided how his administration will respond to a drone attack by Iran-backed militants on a US base in Jordan that killed three US soldiers and wounded dozens of others. others on Sunday.

"Yes," President Biden told reporters as he left the White House on Tuesday for a trip to Florida for a Florida fundraiser. Sunday's attack was the first to cause casualties among US soldiers in the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip began on October 7.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq group, which is backed by Tehran, claimed responsibility for the attack on the base near Jordan's border with Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon said that the attack has "traces" of the Iraqi militants of the "Kataib Hezbollah" group, supported by Iran.

The Kataib Hezbollah group on Tuesday announced the suspension of military operations against US troops in the region.

Asked whether this future American response would really deter Iran, Mr. Biden said: "We'll see." Iran-backed groups have carried out more than 160 attacks on US military facilities in the region, despite retaliatory strikes from Washington. Rebels from the Houthi group, another Tehran-backed organization, have also continued their missile and drone attacks against merchant ships in the Red Sea, despite multiple US airstrikes on their missile launch systems in Yemen.

President Biden underscored what he and his officials have said repeatedly, that Washington does not want an expansion of the conflict.

"I don't think we need a wider war in the Middle East. That's not what I'm asking for," he said.

It is difficult to find a military response that would deter further attacks by Iran-backed groups and at the same time avoid the possibility of the war spreading to the Middle East region. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the guiding principle is to degrade the groups' ability to attack US troops and facilities and send a "strong signal to supporters theirs" in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

"The president will do what is necessary to protect our troops, our facilities and our national security ... our interests in the region," he said, adding that President Biden's order will be a "tiered approach of different" which may include "multiple actions"./ VOA