In an interview with CBS on Monday, White House National Security and Public Affairs Adviser John Kirby said that Iran attacked Israel despite American warnings not to attack it and that it was a major threat to America’s influence in the region. In response to a question about what it tells us about power, he said: Looking at this, they weren’t. They were intended to inflict casualties, and they were intended to cause massive damage inside Israel, but that was not actually the case. ”
“Let’s talk about deterrence,” said co-host Tony Dokoupil, “because after decades of proxy wars between Iran and Israel, we now have Iran’s first direct attack on Israel. ” he asked. And it follows the US telling Iran to “fuck off.” Well, they did. So what does US influence in the region look like this morning? ”
Kirby replied: “The other way to look at it is that they didn’t do that. And the reason they didn’t is because the United States and our partners came to defend Israel and we supported them and shot down almost everything the Iranians threw up into the air. And as the president told Prime Minister Netanyahu on the phone Saturday night, this is an extraordinary success and should be seen as an extraordinary success, proving that Israel is not alone. We’ve proven we’re better than Iran. And we should think about what that success actually means in the region. There’s no reason for the president to want a broader war in the region. Everything he’s done since October 7th is designed to prevent that. And of course we don’t want war with Iran.”
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