Middle East escalation left the United States and Israel preparing for a “significant” attack from Iran after stated threats saw the Biden administration balking on blame.
A presidency of turmoil took another step back on foreign policy amid heightened hostilities with Islamist forces that included Iran and its proxies. As of late Friday, senior U.S. officials contended that a strike of indeterminant size against American and/or Israeli forces was “inevitable.”
The Washington Examiner reported on a statement from a senior administration official who addressed a call between President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in lieu of the threat levied by Iran.
“The President and the Prime Minister spoke about these threats yesterday (as the White House noted in its readout),” the statement read. “Our teams have been in regular and continuous contact since then. The United States fully supports the defense of Israel against threats from Iran. I will not go beyond that given the sensitivity of the topic and information based on intelligence sources.”
Senior U.S. officials had also conveyed to CNN Friday that an attack by Iran remained “inevitable,” with one senior administration official suggesting to the outlet it would be a “significant” attack, possibly within a week.
On Monday, Iranian Ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, had issued his own statement following a strike from Israel that had killed members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and argued, “[Israel has] gone beyond the red line. Iran has never left any crimes on the Zionist regime without an answer. So, definitely, the Zionists and their allies know that in proportion to the crime they have committed, they need to await a proper response on the basis of Iran’s choosing at the right place and time.”
As had been covered, Israel had targeted a facility in Damascus, Syria that they identified as a”military building of Quds forces disguised as a civilian building,” but that Iranians claimed was a diplomatic consulate.
Among the dead, Iran’s Foreign Ministry had listed IRGC commander Mohammed Reza Zahedi and senior commander Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi. At least six others were said to have been killed as Iranian state television contended they were merely Syrian citizens.
Earlier in the week, the United States shot down a drone near Al-Tanf believed to have been retaliation for the airstrike from Israel that Biden’s administration had remained adamant they, “did not know about it ahead of time,” according to a National Security Council spokesperson.
With Iran finding fault with the U.S. despite the seeming prostration, the Associated Press had reported that Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, U.S. Air Force commander for the Middle East, believed a pause on strikes against American forces in the region could come to an end without citing a specific threat.
Meanwhile, residents near Allentown, Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley International Airport took notice as the arrival of an estimated 70 military helicopters representing the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division began Saturday, Lehigh Valley Live reported.
In a statement, U.S. Army public affairs Capt. Daniel Andrews referred to the movement as “support of the unit’s mission to deploy to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility as a regularly scheduled rotation of forces.”
Based out of MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, CENTCOM’s coverage spanned 21 nations across Central and South Asia, Northeast Africa and the Middle East.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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