White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeatedly declined to address Israel’s attack on Iran, saying President Joe Biden’s administration has no comment on the matter.
Jean-Pierre, as he took the podium at his daily press conference, announced from on high: ‘I know that overnight there is a lot of interest in Middle East reporting, and we understand that. We understand. I’m going to say it now, although I know you’ll all ask me about it, that we don’t have any comment on the reports at this time.’
She maintained that stance despite repeated questions.
‘I’m not going to talk or speculate on any of the reports out there. I’m not going to comment. I’m going to leave it there,” he told reporters.
“We have no comment,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of the Israeli attack on Iran.
US officials acknowledged that they received advance warning from Tel Aviv about the attack on a base in central Iran, but there are reports that the administration is refusing to comment on the matter because the White House does not want to be drawn into a war between Israel and Iran.
Jean-Pierre repeated the White House line that they do not want to see an escalation in the region.
“We have been very, very clear from here – from the beginning – that we do not want this conflict to escalate,” he said.
The administration has insisted that it did not participate in the offensive. Biden had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be careful about retaliation, as he did not want it to provoke a war in the Middle East.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who is chairing a meeting of G7 countries, revealed that the United States had notified the rest of the alliance that they had received a warning about the attack.
Tajani said US officials told G7 ministers that Israel had “informed them at the last minute” about the drones it was sending to Iran. “But the United States did not share the attack. It was mere information.”
The Israeli strikes hit Isfahan in central Iran, which is where Iran’s nuclear capabilities are located.
A senior US official told the New York Times that Israel had notified the United States through multiple channels shortly before its attack on Iran.
The official noted that the attack was expected given that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been hinting at an attack all week.
“We were not surprised,” the official said.
The White House has not commented publicly on the attack.
Administration officials were keeping quiet to prevent the United States from becoming involved in the Iran-Israel conflict, the official told the Times.
Another official told CNN that the United States “did not support the response.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is in Italy for a G7 foreign ministers meeting, declined to address the strike.
“I’m not going to talk about that except to say that the United States has not been involved in any offensive operations,” Blinken told reporters there.
“We are also committed to reducing tension, to trying to end this tension,” Blinken said.
He also said the countries shared “a commitment to holding Iran accountable.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) was on the verge of ordering a widespread attack on Tehran the night Iran attacked, but after speaking with President Joe Biden (right), he delayed the attack.
Tel Aviv hitthe city of Isfahan, central Iran, was attacked at 5 a.m. local timeand Israel reportedly attacked an air base near the city that also houses some of Iran’s nuclear research facilities.
Isfahan is a known focus of Iran’s nuclear research and is home to drone production plants, but the attack is believed to have caused little property damage and no casualties have been reported.
Israel’s attack was retaliation for Iran’s attack on Saturday, when Tehran sent more than 300 missiles and drones to Tel Aviv, most of which were shot down.
Netanyahu was on the verge of ordering a widespread attack on Tehran the night Iran attacked, but after speaking with President Biden, and because the damage was limited, the Israeli war cabinet postponed a decision.
Biden and other world leaders spent this week urging Israel not to retaliate in a way that could trigger a broader war in the Middle East.
They noted that Israeli forces are already fighting on two additional fronts: Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both allies of Iran.
Israel cannot afford a major conflict with Iran, particularly as the IDF is stretched to its limits amid ongoing military operations against Hamas and intermittent skirmishes with Hezbollah on the northern border with Lebanon.
Meanwhile, President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran had warned that “the slightest act of aggression” would provoke a response.
But Iranian officials subsequently sought to downplay any significant damage to their military facilities and flatly denied that any nuclear plants had been destroyed, while Iranian state television this morning released images of a peaceful Isfahan to cast doubt on reports that the city had been attacked.
Israel’s attack was smaller in scope than expected, allowing Iranian officials to downplay its significance.
Experts believe this will allow both countries to reduce tension while saving face.