(Washington) The United States does not want an “escalation” and an “extended war with Iran”, insisted Sunday the spokesperson for the National Security Council of the White House, the day after an unprecedented attack by the Islamic Republic on Israel.
” President [Joe Biden] has been clear: we do not want escalation. We do not want an extended war with Iran. I think the hours and days to come will tell us a lot,” John Kirby said on American television channel NBC.
Iran launched a massive drone and missile attack on Saturday, a first direct attack against Israeli territory which has raised fears of a regional explosion. It was “thwarted” according to the Israeli army while Iran welcomed what it considers to be a justified response to the strike which destroyed its consulate in Damascus on 1er april.
“We have made it very clear to all parties, including Iran, what we would do […] and how seriously we would take any potential threat to our personnel” positioned in the Middle East, John Kirby added.
PHOTO KEN CEDENO, REUTERS
John Kirby, White House National Security Council spokesman
Joe Biden said Saturday evening that American forces had helped to shoot down “almost all” of the drones and missiles fired by Iran at Israel, adding that he had reaffirmed his “unwavering” support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
” No answer ”
However, the United States will not participate in a possible Israeli response against Iran. “We will not be part of any response they intend to carry out,” a senior Biden administration official told the press on condition of anonymity.
We do not see ourselves participating in such an act.
Anonymous source
According to him, Israel is not “looking” for escalation either. “Israel has made it clear to us that they are not seeking a significant escalation with Iran,” said the same official.
Disagreements have been increasingly visible in recent weeks between Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu, to whom the American president blames the conduct of the war for more than six months against Palestinian Hamas in Gaza, a territory hit by a humanitarian tragedy and threatened with large-scale famine.
“We will continue to work with [Nétanyahou]to advise him”, however assured John Kirby on NBC, reaffirming that the United States would “continue to help [les Israéliens] to defend oneself.”
“We will do everything necessary to ensure that our troops, our installations and our ships in the region are also protected,” he insisted again on another channel, CBS.
John Kirby, who toured the television sets on Sunday morning, also affirmed on CNN that the Iranians had launched “clearly several hundred” drones and missiles and at least “300” according to the Israelis.
“Not much damage”
“And what damage did they cause? Not a lot. This is an incredible feat on Israel’s part, but it also shows that Iran is not the military power it claims to be,” he said.
The United States, for its part, shot down “several dozen, easily” of these machines, he said.
Asked by CBS about the situation in Gaza, John Kirby estimated that diplomacy was not yet “dead” to silence the guns and allow the release of hostages held in the Palestinian territory, bombed and besieged by Israel.
Israel and Hamas accuse each other of wanting to sabotage ceasefire talks. Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, said on Sunday that Hamas had rejected the latest truce plan put on the table last week in Cairo by American, Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
“It’s a good deal,” said John Kirby. “It would make it possible to evacuate dozens of the most fragile hostages” and “to obtain a six-week ceasefire” facilitating the entry of “more humanitarian aid”.
“The leaders of Hamas must accept this agreement,” insisted the White House spokesperson.
Without expressing an explicit refusal, Hamas demanded a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the entire Gaza Strip.