Washington – Strategic Communications Coordinator at the US National Security Council, John Kirby, described the Iranian response and the Israeli way of dealing with it as a complete victory for Tel Aviv and a complete failure for Tehran, stressing that Washington is not seeking to expand the war.
Kirby explained – during an interview with Al Jazeera – that Israel’s confrontation of the Iranian attack was successful due to experience and preparations, which made the attack a failure.
The American official denied that Iran had informed Washington in advance of what it would do, condemning what he described as “an unprecedented Iranian air attack with more than 300 drones and missiles.”
Kirby stressed that Israel proved – in its dealings with the Iranian response – that it has superior military capabilities compared to Iran, and that it also has friends such as the United States who contributed to helping it defend itself.
Late yesterday evening, Saturday, Iran launched about 350 missiles and drones towards Israel, the latter intercepted 99% of them, according to Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari, in the first attack of its kind launched by Iran from its territory on Israel, and not through allies.
The attack came in response to the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, in early April, being subjected to a missile attack that Tehran said was Israeli, which resulted in the killing of 7 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, including prominent General Mohammad Reza Zahedi.
The American official refused – on more than one occasion – to comment on the possibility of Israel responding to Iran, and only said that this was up to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the War Council.
He also refused to comment on the possibility of the United States participating in the Israeli response to Tehran, and said that he would not enter into any opinions on that, and would not express the opinion of Israel and its military leaders.
He pointed out that the phone call between US President Joe Biden and Netanyahu “was to praise the strength and courage of the Israeli army, and gratitude to the American forces for assisting in this.”
He stressed that the American President was clear that he did not want to escalate tensions in the region and expand the scope of the war, and that he did not seek war with Iran, adding, “All we have done is to support Israel’s capabilities in defending itself.”
Regarding the war on Gaza, Kirby denied knowledge of what was reported by the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation that Netanyahu postponed a scheduled date for a ground operation in Rafah.
Source: Al Jazeera
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2024-04-15 19:49:34