A US official confirmed to Fox News how an Iran-proxy drone this weekend got past our airbase defenses and killed three American troops.

According to Fox News reporter Liz Friden, the drone “was mistaken for U.S. drone expected to return to the base at the same time.”

 
Here’s more from the WSJ:

The U.S. failed to stop a deadly attack on an American military outpost in Jordan when the enemy drone approached its target at the same time a U.S. drone was also returning to base, U.S. officials said Monday.

The return of the U.S. drone led to some confusion over whether the incoming drone was friend or foe, officials have concluded so far.

The enemy drone was launched from Iraq by a militia backed by Tehran, U.S. officials said. The outpost, Tower 22, sits in Jordan, near the borders of Iraq and Syria.

An American defense official said on Monday that the U.S. has yet to find evidence thus far that Iran directed the attack, which killed three U.S. troops and wounded dozens of others. The drone struck living quarters for the troops, contributing to the high casualties, a U.S. official said.

Sunday’s attack signaled an escalation in hostilities that have been growing since the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. President Biden said the U.S. would respond.

So how will Biden respond? It should be a ‘shock and awe’ campaign to destroy these terrorists AND the US should target Iran directly, just as Reagan did. But you can be sure Biden’s response won’t be the appropriate response that would actually deter these attacks because he’s too afraid of provoking Iran.

The U.S. is weighing strikes against militias in Iraq and Syria, as well as within Iran, the officials said. An attack on Iranian soil seemed like a less likely option, U.S. officials said.

In addition to determining how to respond to the drone attack on Tower 22, the administration is also considering strikes against Houthi targets in response to their attacks on commercial U.S. military ships. On Friday, a U.S. destroyer, the USS Carney, shot down a ballistic missile fired toward it from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen, the Pentagon said, marking the second time the U.S. has announced that the group has targeted one of its military vessels.

The Biden administration has to weigh a response forceful enough to deter Iranian allies from conducting further attacks on U.S. forces and interests while avoiding getting bogged down in another war in the Middle East.

The Reagan administration attacked Iranian ships and offshore oil platforms in clashes with Tehran, but the U.S. military hasn’t previously attacked targets on Iranian territory.

Former officials have said the administration might choose from a variety of options short of striking Iranian territory, such as attacking Iran’s paramilitary Quds Force personnel in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, hitting Iranian ships at sea or conducting a major attack on the Iranian-backed militia group that is assessed to be responsible.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Monday said the U.S. was still working to establish who was specifically responsible for the attack, but believed the perpetrators were supported by Kataib Hezbollah, which is one of Iran’s main militia allies and is based in Iraq with forces in Syria.

Biden would respond “in a time and manner of his own choosing” and “in a very consequential way,” Kirby said in an interview with CNN.

I am prepared to be underwhelmed.