Iran’s attack on Israel is igniting fears of a wider conflict with blowback against Americans, prompting the U.S. government to begin preparing for Israel’s next steps while asking the Jewish state to refrain from escalation.
U.S. forces helped Israel down nearly all the Iranian missiles and drones in the weekend attack. The Biden administration said it is eager to prevent the conflict from growing.
Early this month, President Biden instructed U.S. forces to defend Israel to the maximum extent possible and began positioning assets, a senior administration official said.
“If successful, this attack could have caused an uncontrollable escalation, a broad regional conflict, something we have worked day and night to avoid since Oct. 7,” the senior official told reporters on Sunday.
Iran attacked at an increasingly perilous time for Israel and after an Israeli strike in Syria killed Iranian officials.
The back-and-forth threatened to broaden a deadly conflict that began when Iran-backed Hamas terrorists attacked Israeli civilians six months ago.
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Mr. Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the U.S. learned Iran’s attack had been almost wholly frustrated, according to a U.S. official speaking to reporters Sunday.
The president reportedly told Mr. Netanyahu that the U.S. did not support a counterattack.
Mr. Biden’s team was working to stop the war from spreading, said White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.
“The president’s been clear: We don’t want to see this escalate, we’re not looking for a wider war with Iran,” Mr. Kirby told NBC on Sunday. “I think the coming hours and days will tell us a lot.”
U.S. national security officials counted more than 300 munitions in Iran’s attack, including more than 100 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.
Israel shot down the majority of the missiles, and the U.S. helped disable other weapons, U.S. officials said.
Israeli officials acknowledged only minor damage to an air base and one civilian casualty, a seriously wounded 7-year-old girl in southern Israel.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels, an Iran-linked group, tried to join the fight but were stopped, a senior official said without elaborating.
U.S. officials were watching for Israel’s next steps but did not think the Jewish state was eager for a larger conflict.
“Israel’s made clear to us they’re not looking for a significant escalation with Iran,” a U.S. official said Sunday. “That’s not what they’re looking for. They’re looking to protect themselves and defend themselves.”
Israel’s wartime Cabinet met for several hours Sunday in Tel Aviv.
“We will build a regional coalition and collect the price from Iran in the way and at the time that suits us,” Cabinet member Benny Gantz said after the meeting.
The Iranian regime said it considered the matter closed as a proportionate retaliation for the Damascus strike, but it warned of escalation if Israel struck back.
Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said in a post on X that Iran has “no intention of continuing defensive operations” unless it is attacked.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned the U.S. against “any support or participation in harming Iran’s interests.”
Mr. Biden said Saturday that he lauded Israel’s self-defense and touted the ironclad U.S. commitment to Israel during his conversation with Mr. Netanyahu.
The president assembled heads of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations on Sunday to chart a shared response to the Iranian regime’s attack.
The G7 leaders, representing the U.S., Germany, Japan, Britain, France, Italy and Canada, issued a joint statement on Sunday condemning the attack and saying escalation must be avoided.
“We will continue to work to stabilize the situation and avoid further escalation,” the leaders’ statement said. “In this spirit, we demand that Iran and its proxies cease their attacks, and we stand ready to take further measures now and in response to further destabilizing initiatives.”
The United Nations Security Council was meeting Sunday evening on the attack.
Congress is preparing a response to the Iranian attack. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Louisiana Republican, said lawmakers were changing the legislative calendar for the week to prioritize support for Israel.
“The House of Representatives stands strongly with Israel, and there must be consequences for this unprovoked attack,” Mr. Scalise said on X.
Republican leadership in the House is debating the appropriate response.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, Texas Republican, said House Speaker Mike Johnson and other party leaders were meeting Sunday evening.
Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, told Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” that House Republicans understood the necessity of standing with Israel and he would try to advance the aid this week.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said on Saturday that the best way to help Israel was for the House to advance legislation providing aid to Ukraine and Israel.
Republicans are far more divided politically on aiding Kyiv than helping the Jewish state.
Mr. McCaul suggested that Israel could target Iran’s weapons manufacturing facilities as a proportionate response.
“I think one option would be to take out the facilities where these drones and rockets came from, and also destroy the manufacturing facilities that build the drones and rockets, not just for Israel’s sake but also for Ukraine’s sake because these rockets and these drones are being bought by Russia, and they’re killing Ukrainians every day,” Mr. McCaul said Sunday.
“What happened in Israel last night happens in Ukraine every night,” he said.
The Biden administration’s handling of Iran and developing events in Israel irked some Republican decision-makers on Capitol Hill.
Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, said Mr. Biden’s team was undermining Israel’s self-defense.
“What I don’t understand is why Joe Biden and the administration would leak to the media the contents of a conversation in which he tells Netanyahu he doesn’t think [Israel] should respond at all,” Mr. Rubio told CNN. “It is the continuing part of this public game that they are playing.”
Mr. Johnson said Saturday that he would work with the White House on a proper response but added that the Biden administration had undermined Israel and appeased Iran, which “contributed to these terrible developments.”
Police departments in Los Angeles, New York City and the District of Columbia published alerts on Saturday saying they were closely monitoring the attack and were committed to defending “houses of worship.”
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.