U.S. President Joe Biden (left) and Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Photo Credit: CNN
Iran is building its military bases across the Middle East and funding and arming proxies to fight Israel and the United States. Does the Biden administration have a long-term strategic deterrent against the Islamic Republic? In a surprise attack against Iran, Israel launched precision strikes on April 1, 2024, targeting an Iranian Embassy in Damascus, Syria. Seven military advisers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were killed, including two top generals. In response, Iran vowed to retaliate against its long-time enemy.
While Israel braced for a major attack from Iran, western intelligence warned that Iran’s attack was imminent over the weekend between April 13 to 14. Mr. Biden said the US is “devoted to the defense of Israel” in a statement on Friday.
A travel advisory has been issued to U.S. citizens not to travel to Israel while U.S. troops have been deployed to the Middle East along with warships to shoot down possible projectiles that may threaten Israel.
Mr. Biden advised Iran not to attack Israel in a series of “don’t” remarks. Are these statements enough to deter Tehran? A former U.S. Secretary of State, Mr. Mike Pompeo, does not agree the Biden administration is providing enough detergent in the wake of Iran’s threat to Israel and belligerence in the region. Mr. Pompeo said Mr. Biden has not deterred Iran from attacking Israel but instead has given the state sponsor of terror the greenlight to do so.
Mr. Pompeo, while speaking with Fox News’s Martha MacCallum on Friday, criticized Biden’s response as “really dangerous.”
“Well, he said don’t multiple times, and don’t isn’t a national security policy,” Pompeo said. “It’s not even a deterrent.”
Has Joe Biden Failed?
Speaking further on Biden’s failure, the former US Secretary of State said “the Iranians have already attacked Israel once on October 7 through their proxy Hamas. They’re continuing to fire on American interests in the region now over 100 times since October 7.”
Lamenting the lack of a defense strategy to protect Israel, Pompeo said, “So, what we’re talking about in the next 24 to 48 hours is just a continuation of a failed policy to actually protect Israel.”
Pompeo noted that Iran has fired at Americans, the U.S. has had citizens die in the Red Sea amid attacks from Iran-backed Houthi rebels, and some have been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
“They haven’t left us out of this, and you can’t leave the United States out when you’re attacking our friend and ally in Israel,” he said, expressing alarm at the deaths of Americans in the Red Sea amid attacks from Iran-backed Houthi rebels and others held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip following the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel.
Iran has been providing arms and other financial support to its proxies in the region, including the Houthis, which operate in Yemen and are currently attacking vessels in the Red Sea; Hezbollah, operating in Lebanon; Hamas, operating in Gaza; and Islamic Jihad, operating in Syria. Several US bases have come under direct drone or missile attacks from Iranian proxies. These extremists carried out about 158 attacks against U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq and Syria before the January attacks in Jordan.
During the January attacks blamed on Islamic Jihad in Syria, three U.S. troops were killed, leaving more than 30 others injured in an apparent drone attack. The attack took place on a small US outpost in Jordan. The Biden administration issued empty rhetoric, saying “we shall respond,” but no serious action followed. Mr. Biden could not target Iran in any direct hit apart from attacking sites outside Tehran.
Iran is slowly building its nuclear capabilities, enriching uranium beyond the recommended 3.67% for civilian use to about 60% and beyond, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in late 2023.
Yet Mr. Biden continues to work to prevent regional escalation as Iran builds nuclear weapons to possibly hand them over to its proxies to attack U.S. interests in the Middle East and Israel.
By late Saturday, April 13th, 2024 local time, Iranian forces had launched hundreds of drones directed at Israeli cities and territory, according to the Israeli military. Most of the missiles landed in Israel in tge early hours of Sunday, April 14, 2024. Confirming the development, the Biden administration said the United States will “stand with the people of Israel and support their defense against these threats from Iran.”
Reiterating America’s support for the Jewish state, a White House National Security Council spokesperson, Adrienne Watson said, “President Biden has been clear: our support for Israel’s security is ironclad.”
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it intercepted 99% of the 300 missiles that Iran fired directly from its territory in a strategic shift from its policy of using its proxies. Drones and missiles were also fired by Iranian proxies from Yemen, Lebanon, and Iraq.
Warning the US to stay out of its conflict with Israel, Iran’s mission to the UN said its attack on Israel is “concluded.”
Tehran said in a post on X that its attack against Israel was in response to the country’s “aggression against our diplomatic premises in Damascus.”
“The matter can be deemed concluded,” the post adds. “However, should the Israeli regime make another mistake, Iran’s response will be considerably more severe. It is a conflict between Iran and the rogue Israeli regime, from which the U.S. must stay away!
All drones targeting Israel were successfully shot down with the help of US, Jordan, and UK forces, the IDF said.
Earlier, Mr. Biden cut short his weekend stay at his Delaware beach house to hold a security meeting at the White House.
In a statement from the White House after the deadly Iranian attacks, President Biden said:
“Earlier today, Iran—and its proxies operating out of Yemen, Syria, and Iraq—launched an unprecedented air attack against military facilities in Israel. I condemn these attacks in the strongest possible terms.”
The president said he directed “the U.S. military” to move “aircraft and ballistic missile defense destroyers to the region over the course of the past week.” to defend Israel.
“Thanks to these deployments and the extraordinary skill of our servicemembers, we helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles,” Mr. Biden said.
In all of Mr. Biden’s rhetoric, warnings, and military deployments, the Iranians went ahead with their attack, directly launching from their own territory for the first time ever. Iran knows there will be no consequences from the Biden White House. There is absolutely no deterrent against the Iranian regime at this time, and there will be none until the end of the Biden White House.