US Aid in Countering Iran’s Attack on Israel

Senior US officials detailed the role Washington played in countering the attack. American aircraft and planes downed dozens of drones and missiles when Iran launched the attack on Saturday, after Tehran repeatedly threatened to hit back in response to an Israeli strike on its consulate in Damascus that killed two top officers at the beginning of the month. Two American warships — the USS Arleigh Burke and the USS Carney — destroyed between four and six ballistic missiles, while US aircraft shot down more than 70 Iranian drones, the military official said. A Patriot missile battery also shot down a ballistic missile that was headed toward Israel in the area of the northern Iraq city of Arbil.

President Joe Biden spent Saturday evening receiving real-time updates in the Situation Room at the White House as the attack unfolded. “At one point, we knew there were over 100 ballistic missiles in the sky” and “the results of the defenses of course were unclear until all was said and done,” a senior administration official said, describing the tense atmosphere. Top US officials were pulled aside and informed of details about the strike during a visit by the Israeli ambassador and defense attache at the White House, the senior administration official said. “We were not a part of that strike” but “we knew that that would have repercussions,” the official said.

A few days later, Biden instructed the government “to defend Israel to the maximum extent possible” and to ensure that all necessary authorities and assets were in place to do so — a directive that sent officials into action. General Erik Kurilla, the head of the US military command responsible for the region, was dispatched to the region and provided real-time updates as well as coordinating with the Israelis and other partners. The United States was in touch with Iran as well, sending “a series of direct communications through the Swiss channel,” the senior administration official said. Washington also deployed additional military assets to the region “to bolster regional deterrence efforts and increase force protection for US forces,” a US defense official said last week.

“We would not be a part of any response they do,” the senior administration official said of possible Israeli action after the attack. *(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed. )*