The White House announced Saturday that Joe Biden is returning to Washington from the suburbs “to consult with his national security team on events in the Middle East” amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran.
The U.S. president was scheduled to spend the weekend at his official residence in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, but made a hasty departure early Saturday afternoon to return to the White House.
Following this, Biden on Friday said he expected an Iranian attack on Israel “sooner or later” and issued a final message to Tehran: “Stop it.”
Earlier, White House National Security Press Secretary John Kirby said that despite Washington-led efforts, including calls from Britain and Germany to Tehran, to prevent serious escalation, Iran’s It warned that the threat of a major attack remained “real”. Middle East conflict.
On Saturday, Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guards seized an Israeli container ship in the Strait of Hormuz, 50 nautical miles off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.
The ship’s operator, the Italian-Swiss group MSC, later confirmed that Iranian authorities had rappelled from a helicopter and boarded the ship. The White House condemned the seizure of the British-owned vessel.
National Security Council spokesman Adrian 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, warning that “seizing civilian vessels without provocation is a clear violation of international law and an act of piracy.”
Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel for the April 1 attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria that killed seven people, including two Revolutionary Guards officers, leading to conflict between Israel and Hamas. There are growing concerns that the situation in the Middle East is already becoming unstable. The state of war in Gaza could deteriorate rapidly.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday to discuss urgent regional threats in the Middle East and “reiterate America’s unwavering support for the defense of Israel,” according to the Pentagon.
Gallant said the government is closely monitoring “planned attacks” against Israel by Iran and its proxies.
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The United States, along with its allies, sent a direct message to the Iranian government, warning of further escalation of the conflict.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan also met with his counterpart to reinforce Washington’s “firm commitment to Israel’s security.”
There was no word on whether specific events or information prompted Biden to suddenly return to Washington, but while he had previously decided it was OK to spend the weekend in Delaware, news of the president’s actions It gave a clear signal that the United States believed. The risk of some kind of attack on Israel by Iran is increasing.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said Friday it had fired dozens of rockets at Israeli artillery positions, claiming the shelling was in response to an Israeli attack across the Israeli-Lebanese border. This is the latest in a series of near-daily exchanges of artillery fire.
Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Associated Press contributed to the report
