Washington – US President Joe Biden yesterday evening, Saturday, condemned the Iranian attacks on Israel, and said that he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, indicating that he would discuss with the leaders of the Group of Seven a unified response to the Iranian attack.
Biden explained that his conversation with Netanyahu emphasized the “unwavering American commitment” to Israel’s security, saying – in a statement – that I will meet with my peers from the G7 leaders to coordinate a unified diplomatic response to the Iranian attack.
The American website Axios also quoted a White House official as saying that Biden informed Netanyahu that Washington would oppose any Israeli attack against Iran.
The American official said that Netanyahu told Biden that he understood why Washington did not participate or support an attack against Iran, pointing out that Biden informed Netanyahu that the efforts of the United States, Israel, and other countries “thwarted” the Iranian attack.
In turn, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said that Netanyahu is speaking with Biden, after meetings of the war cabinet and the mini-security ministerial council to discuss the Iranian attack.
Netanyahu held a phone conversation with Biden, coinciding with another phone call between Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and his American counterpart, Lloyd Austin, in the second call between the two ministers within 24 hours.
Gallant said in a post on the X platform, “I spoke with Austin about Israeli defensive operations in the face of the Iranian attack. We are ready to confront any other threats, and are determined to defend our citizens.”
Austin also said that his forces intercepted dozens of marches and missiles – from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen – towards Israel, stressing that American forces are ready to provide support to defend Israel “and protect our forces and partners,” pointing out, “We do not seek conflict with Iran, but we will not hesitate to act to protect our forces and support the defense of “Israel.”
Earlier, the Israeli Mini Ministerial Council for Security and Political Affairs (Cabinet) authorized Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Galant, and Minister Benny Gantz to make decisions to respond to the Iranian attack, according to the official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation.
The broadcasting authority explained that the authorization decision came after the cabinet held a meeting in a fortified area at the Israeli Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv, coinciding with Iran’s start of an attack on Saturday evening using missiles and drones on Israel. In response to the bombing of the headquarters of its diplomatic mission in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
The broadcaster added – later – that Israel requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to condemn Iran and “declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization” after the attack, following Israeli officials vowing in the past few days that if Iran attacks Israel from its territory, the response will be in the past few days. Inside Iran.
On Sunday morning, the Israeli army reported monitoring dozens of cruise missiles and surface-to-surface missiles launched by Iran against Israeli cities.
He added that most of these missiles were intercepted by his air defense systems and by countries he described as strategic partners, while the Israeli Home Front Command announced – at dawn today – the end of the Iranian response, and that “there is no longer a need to take shelter in shelters.”
On the other hand, Iranian television, for its part, said that half of the missiles launched hit Israeli targets “successfully,” after the Revolutionary Guard began an air operation with drones and missiles against targets in Israel.
Source: Al Jazeera + agencies
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2024-04-16 07:48:34