White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeatedly declined to comment on Israel’s attack on Iran, saying President Joe Biden’s administration has no comment on the matter.
When Jean-Pierre took the stage at her daily press conference, she announced at the top: “I know there is a lot of interest in reports from the Middle East overnight, and we understand that. We understand that. I’m going to say now, although I know you will certainly ask me about it, that we have no comment on the reports at this time.”
Despite repeated questions, she maintained this position.
“I’m not going to speak or speculate on the reports that are out there. I’m not going to comment. I’ll just leave it at that,” she told reporters.
‘We have no comment,’ White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Israel’s attack on Iran
US officials acknowledged that they had received advance warning from Tel Aviv about the attack on a base in central Iran, but there are reports that the administration declined to comment on the matter because the White House does not want to become involved in a war between Israel and Israel . Iran.
Jean-Pierre reiterated the White House line that they do not want to see an escalation in the region.
“We have been very clear from the beginning that we do not want to see this conflict escalate,” she said.
The government has maintained it was not involved in the offensive. Biden had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be careful with retaliation because he did not want him to spark a war in the Middle East.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, chairing a meeting of G7 countries, revealed that the US had indicated to the rest of the alliance that it had prepared the attack.
Tajani said US officials told G7 ministers that Israel had been informed “at the last minute” about the drones it was sending to Iran. ‘But the attack by the US was not shared. It was merely information.”
Israeli strikes hit Isfahan in central Iran, where Iran’s nuclear capabilities are located
A senior US official told the New York Times that Israel had informed the United States through multiple channels shortly before its attack on Iran.
The official noted that the attack was expected as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had hinted at it all week.
“We were not surprised,” the official said.
The White House has not publicly commented on the attack.
Administration officials kept quiet to avoid drawing the United States into the conflict between Iran and Israel, the official told the Times.
Another official told CNN that the US “did not endorse the response.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is in Italy for a meeting of G7 foreign ministers, declined to comment on the strike.
“I won’t comment on that other than to say that the United States has not been involved in any offensive operations,” Blinken told reporters there.
“We are also committed to de-escalating, to trying to end this tension,” Blinken noted.
He also said the countries “shared a commitment to hold Iran accountable.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) was about to order a widespread attack on Tehran the night Iran attacked, but after speaking with President Joe Biden (right) he postponed an attack
Tel Aviv struckth city of Isfahan in central Iran was hit at 5 a.m. local timeIsrael has reportedly targeted an air base near the city, which is also home to some Iranian nuclear research facilities.
Isfahan is known as a hotbed for Iran’s nuclear research and is home to drone production factories – but the attack is said to have caused little material damage and no casualties have been reported.
Israel’s attack was in retaliation for Iran’s on Saturday, when Tehran sent more than 300 missiles and drones into Tel Aviv, most of which were shot down.
Netanyahu was about to order a widespread attack on Tehran on the night Iran attacked, but after speaking with President Biden, and because damage was limited, Israel’s war cabinet postponed a decision.
Biden and other world leaders this week urged Israel not to retaliate in a way that would trigger a broader war in the Middle East.
They pointed out that Israeli forces are already fighting on two additional fronts: Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both allies of Iran.
Israel can ill-afford a major conflict with Iran, especially since the IDF is overstretched amid ongoing military operations against Hamas and periodic skirmishes with Hezbollah on its northern border with Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi had warned that “the smallest act of aggression” would trigger a response.
But in the aftermath, Iranian officials tried to downplay any significant damage to their military facilities and flatly denied that any nuclear power plants had been destroyed. Iranian state television this morning released images of an undisturbed Isfahan to cast doubt on reports that the city had been hit.
The Israeli attack was smaller in scale than expected, allowing Iranian officials to downplay its significance.
Experts believe this will allow both countries to de-escalate and save face at the same time.