The Biden administration is reportedly determining how to retaliate against Iran for its apparent role in a drone attack without igniting an open war.
The U.S. is holding the Middle Eastern nation responsible for a drone attack by a militia group at the Jordanian border with Syria on Sunday that killed three U.S. servicemen and wounded 40 others.
“I do hold them responsible, in the sense that they’re supplying the weapons to the people who did it,” Biden said on Tuesday.
Multiple news outlets, including Iran International, are reporting that despite strong public rhetoric about the inevitability and potency of a U.S. military response, the Biden administration has reached out to Iran through third parties in an attempt to keep the brewing conflict contained.
Though the contents of these communications are a matter of speculation, as neither Washington nor Tehran is divulging many details, Al-Jazeera Arabic reported that the U.S. sent multiple messages to Tehran stating that it did not want an open war. However, if Iran escalates — presumably after Biden follows through with his promised response — the U.S. would retaliate again.
Iranian officials have denied such communications have taken place, per The Hill. They have also denied involvement in the militia attack in Jordan, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The U.S. is planning to respond in a series of moves, according to White House national security spokesman John Kirby.
“It’s fair for you to expect that we will respond in an appropriate fashion and it is very possible that what you’ll see is a tiered approach here, not just a single action, but essentially multiple actions,” he said.
However, on Wednesday, the state-run IRNA news agency reported that Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has promised “the Islamic Republic would give a decisive response to threats.”
Defiance was also the reaction of Major Gen. Hossein Salami, chief commander of the hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard, who rejected any notion that Iran could be persuaded not to respond.
“We hear threatening words from American officials,” he said. “You have tested us and we know each other, we will not leave any threat unanswered,” he said, according to IRNA. “We are not looking for war, but we are not afraid of it either,” Salami said, adding, “We are not warmongers, but we defend ourselves and our glory.”
The Dallas Express spoke with retired Army Col. and Trump administration advisor Douglas Macgregor about his take on the claim that the U.S. had reached out to Iran to essentially contain blowback from a retaliatory strike. Among Macgregor’s career highlights, he is known for having commanded a squadron of 49 tanks and fighting vehicles in what is regarded as the last great tank battle of the 20th century during the first Gulf War.
“This isn’t very different from what Trump did with his stupid strikes into Syria,” Macgregor asserted, referencing the 2018 missile attack, which the former colonel said was launched only after consultation with Moscow, the Assad regime’s defenders.
“This is what politicians do. They are playing to an audience. [National Security Advisor Jake] Sullivan convinced Biden, ‘This is what you’re going to do.'”
Speaking about war hawks that guide the administration and the U.S. military generally, Macgregor said, “They think they can avoid a war by escalating with a bombing campaign. But they will have a war with the whole region. In the meantime, the Iranians will strike targets all over the region, including our fleet.”