Iran denies ordering the drone strike that killed US troops as Biden considers a response.
The deaths of three US soldiers in a drone strike in Jordan – the first known US military fatalities from enemy fire in the spreading Middle East crisis – is likely to increase pressure on President Biden, who has sought to Limit US response to prevent regional tensions from spreading further.
The Biden administration said the attack on a remote military outpost near the Syrian border – which also injured 34 other service members – was carried out by “radical, Iranian-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq.”
Like Mr. Biden warned that the United States would respond, U.S. officials said the deaths will require a different level of action than what the White House has ordered in the nearly four months since Israel's war with Hamas sparked broader unrest in the Middle East.
What remained unclear was whether Mr. Biden would attack targets in Iran itself, as his Republican critics urged him to do, with one saying he would be a “coward” if he did not.
A spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaani, said at a news conference on Monday that the militias “do not take orders” from Iran and act independently to oppose “any aggression and occupation.” He said allegations that Iran ordered the attack were “baseless” and blamed Israel and the United States for fueling instability in the region.
Now Mr. Biden must decide how far he is willing to go in terms of retaliation, at the risk of a broader war that he has tried to avoid since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas sparked the current crisis in the Middle East.
Until now, the president had carefully calibrated his responses to the more than 150 attacks by Iranian-backed militias on U.S. forces in the region since Oct. 7. He essentially ignored the majority that were successfully intercepted or caused little to no damage while authorizing limited attacks. The US strikes mainly targeted buildings, weapons and infrastructure after more brazen attacks, particularly against the Houthis in Yemen who targeted shipping in the Red Sea.
John F. Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator at the White House National Security Council, said Monday that the Biden administration was still “studying” available options for a response.
“We have to do what we have to do to protect our troops in our facilities,” he said told NBC News, adding that “we do not want a broader war with Iran. We don't want a wider war in the region, but we have to do what we have to do.”
Iran has long armed, trained, financed and advised militia movements in the Middle East that share its enemies – a loosely connected network of proxy forces known as the “Axis of Resistance” that stretches from Yemen through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon up to Hamas. in the Gaza Strip.
While Iranian officials have publicly denied involvement in or ordering Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel, they have warned that their regional network would open multiple fronts against Israel if the retaliatory war against Hamas in Gaza continues.
Leily Nikounazar And Pieter Bakker reporting contributed.