US President Joe Biden confirmed Thursday that his administration is holding talks with Israel on a retaliatory strike against Iran following the recent massive Iranian missile launch against Tel Aviv, although both Washington and its allies oppose Israel bombing targets in Iran’s nuclear program.
In statements reported in the international press, Biden acknowledged that ‘we are discussing that’ when asked by a journalist if he supported an Israeli attack on Iran’s oil facilities, which hours later led to a 5% increase in the price of crude oil on the markets. Biden, but especially Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, could see her chances of victory in the US elections on 5 November undermined by a rise in oil prices, as inflation and the rising cost of living is one of the main topics of discussion in the US election campaign.
Although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far turned a deaf ear to all calls for restraint and not to escalate tensions in the Middle East, the US president said he did not expect Israel’s response to be immediate. ‘First of all, we don’t ‘authorise’ Israel, we advise Israel. And nothing is going to happen today,’ Biden told reporters when asked if he planned to authorise Israel to carry out a retaliatory strike against Iran, ruling out such an attack taking place in the next 24 hours.
While the US president has shown his ‘full support’ for Israel, Biden has made clear that the US will not support its ally in any attack targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities, and insisted on the need for the Israeli government to act ‘proportionately’ against its Iranian enemy, despite the support expressed by G-7 members. Other allies of Washington such as France and the UK have also said in recent hours that they would not support a direct Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear program, fearing that this would lead to further escalation in the Middle East.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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