From Le Figaro with AFP
Published 23 minutes ago, updated 2 minutes ago
US President Joe Biden speaks to reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on January 30, 2024. ALMOND NGAN / AFP
Interviewed on the White House lawn before his departure to Florida, the American president said he held Iran responsible for the drone attack in Jordan.
Joe Biden said on Tuesday, January 30, that he had voted “yes” on how to respond following the deaths of three American soldiers killed in a drone strike in Jordan on Sunday, while in the United States the Pressure for a decisive response from Iran is not easing. The United States is actually considering “multiple” reprisals. “It's very likely that you're going to see a graduated response, not just one action, but potentially multiple actions,” John Kirby said aboard the plane carrying President Joe Biden to Florida for the day.
Asked about Tehran, the American president said: “I hold them responsible in the sense that they provide weapons to the people who did this,” in this case the pro-Iranian fighters who Washington says are responsible for the murderous attack.
Sunday's drone attack targeted an American logistics base in the middle of the Jordanian desert on the border with Iraq and Syria. According to the US Army, there were three dead and several dozen injured. Enough to revive the American right's criticism of Joe Biden's strategy towards Iran, which it considers far too complacent. Former President Donald Trump, who was the absolute favorite in his party's primaries, responded on Sunday with criticism of his successor's “weakness.”
China and Russia
For his part, the leader of the Republican senators, Mitch McConnell, said: “The whole world is waiting to see whether the president finally decides to use America’s power to force Iran to change its behavior. “Our enemies are feeling their wings growing.” The United States has suffered numerous attacks on positions in the Middle East since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, but reported no human casualties as of Sunday. The American army has already targeted pro-Iranian groups in Iraq and Syria, just as it has targeted Yemen's Houthi rebels, who are backed by Tehran and are increasingly carrying out attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
Above all, Joe Biden does not want to be drawn into a widespread regional conflict in the middle of an election year. So far, it has refrained from attacking Iran directly, whether through targeted attacks on its territory or on high-ranking military officials. The American president, who presents himself at the international level as the guarantor of order and democracy, must not only accept the criticism of his political opponents but also the calls for calm from America's major rivals, Russia and China.
“We believe that the level of tension is very worrying and that it is time to take measures to reduce tension,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press on Tuesday Iran, an ally of Moscow, was asked about the danger of American reprisals. Beijing, for its part, called on “all concerned parties” to exercise “calm and restraint.” The Americans want China, an important economic partner of Iran, to put pressure on Tehran to calm the situation in the Middle East and especially in the Red Sea. A senior American official admitted Saturday after high-level Sino-American talks that Washington's pleas to Beijing have so far failed to provide reassurance.
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