US President Joe Biden refused to support a serious Israeli retaliation to Iran’s massive missile and drone attack in April, while Iran’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani threatened Israel with “Hell Without Return” in Lebanon.
The US president stated on Tuesday:
If you launch a big attack on Iran, you’re on your own.
The attack came in response to the killing of several Iranian generals, including its top commander in Syria, in an airstrike on Damascus weeks earlier that many blamed on Israel. The report said the president was aware of the real-time interception efforts.
The document also said Biden called Netanyahu to persuade him not to escalate. However, when Netanyahu denied Biden’s words, citing the need to prevent future attacks, the president told him:
You do this, and I’m out.
Biden mentioned the Iranian attack during a recent debate when asked about the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Everyone from the United Nations Security Council, straight through to the G7, to the Israelis and Netanyahu himself have endorsed the plan I put forward. The only one who wants the war to continue is Hamas.
However, Trump disagreed with Biden’s assessment of the war, saying:
Actually, Israel is the one [who wants to keep fighting] — and you should let them go, and let them finish the job. He [Biden] doesn’t want to do it, he’s become like a Palestinian. But they don’t like him, because he’s a very bad Palestinian, he’s a weak one.
The US president rejected calls from his party to end his re-election campaign after discussions with his family over the weekend in which his wife and son reportedly persuaded him to stay in the race.
Warning from Iran
Iran’s Acting Foreign Minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, threatened that Lebanon would become “a hell without return for the Zionists [Israel]” if a full-scale war with Hezbollah breaks out.
Lebanon joined the war against Israel after a Hamas attack on 7 October that killed 1,200 people in Israel and took another 240 hostages. Hezbollah has since fired more than 3,300 shells into Israel, forcing 200,000 people from their homes on both sides of the border.
All Lebanese people, Arab countries, and members of the axis of resistance will support Lebanon against Israel.
Iran’s strongest and largest proxy, Hezbollah, has amassed more than 200,000 missiles, according to Arab media. Its leader has often boasted of advanced weaponry that has yet to be deployed in the ongoing, albeit sluggish, conflict with Israel over the past eight months.
Hezbollah has recently stepped up its attacks, using exploding drones and low-flying rockets. At least 11 civilians in Israel and dozens in southern Lebanon have been killed. Some 400 Hezbollah fighters and at least 15 Israeli soldiers have also been killed in the border war.
The last major conflict between Israel and Hezbollah took place in 2006 after Israeli soldiers were kidnapped. The war ended with the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which called for the disarmament of Hezbollah.
