President Joe Biden believes Iran will attack Israel “sooner than later” in retaliation to an Israeli airstrike that killed a top military commander at their consulate in Damascus, Syria.
“We are devoted to the defense of Israel,” the president said on Friday afternoon. “We will support Israel and help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed.”
Iranian leaders have publicly vowed to respond to an Israeli attack on April 1 that resulted in the death of Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps general.
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One of Iran’s proxies, Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon and has exchanged rocket and missile fire with Israel since Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7, fired roughly 40 missiles into northern Israel on Friday evening. Some of the missiles were intercepted, while others landed in open spaces, and no injuries were reported, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
It’s unclear whether the Hezbollah attack was a part of Tehran’s response or whether it’s yet to come.
Tehran’s public comments have raised concerns about possible retaliation and the potential for Israel’s war against Hamas to expand into a broader regional conflict against Iran.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Friday there continues to be a “very credible,” “viable,” and “imminent” threat from Iran to Israeli targets.
U.S. officials, including President Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have spoken with their Israeli counterparts about the possible attack. U.S. Central Command Commander Michael Kurilla also traveled to Israel, where he met with military leaders.
The U.S. military also brought additional assets into the region due to the threat from Iran.
“We are moving additional assets to the region to bolster regional deterrence efforts and increase force protection for U.S. forces,” a defense official told the Washington Examiner on Friday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel would respond to an Iranian attack.
“We have determined a simple rule: Whoever harms us, we will harm them,” Netanyahu told Israel Defense Forces personnel on Thursday. “We are prepared to meet all of the security needs of the State of Israel, both defensively and offensively.”
The U.S. has desperately sought to avoid a wider conflict since Hamas’s terrorist attack on Oct. 7 that started the current conflict. Hamas is one of the terrorist groups supported by Tehran, as is Hezbollah. Tehran also supports militias in Iraq and Syria, which had carried out attacks against U.S. forces roughly 170 times from mid-October through February. The militias killed three U.S. service members in an attack on a U.S. base in Jordan in late January.
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The Iranian-backed Houthis also began launching rockets, drones, and missiles at commercial vessels traveling through the waterways of Yemen’s coasts. The consistent attacks have forced shipping companies to reroute their cargo vessels on longer and more costly routes. The Houthis have sunk one commercial vessel and killed at least three civilians.
Iran’s proxies have all carried out attacks on Israel or the U.S. since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, though Tehran has avoided a direct confrontation with either by utilizing the allied militias.