US has announced it will convene G7 leaders to coordinate response to Iran’s attack on Israel
President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called each other Saturday night (East Coast time) after Iran launched drone and missile attacks on Israel. Biden has reaffirmed his “iron commitment” to Israel and condemned Iran’s aggressive attack. In a statement, the North American president also announced that this Sunday he would convene G7 leaders “to coordinate a diplomatic response to Iran’s brazen attack.”
On the ground, Washington has demonstrated this “strong support” for Israel, helping it “shoot down almost all incoming drones and missiles,” as the White House noted in the same statement. The United States is considering how to maintain support for Tel Aviv without getting drawn into a regional war. Nevertheless, he did not hesitate to send a warning to Tehran: “At the moment we have not seen attacks on our forces or facilities, but we will continue to monitor all threats and will not hesitate to take all necessary actions to protect our people ” ,
“Our support for Israel’s security remains steadfast”
The Iranian attack came just 24 hours after the United States informed Tel Aviv this Friday that an offensive was imminent. Biden assured that he expected the attack to happen “soon” and called on the Ayatollah regime not to do so. This Saturday afternoon, shortly before the first drones left Tehran, Biden interrupted his weekend on the Delaware beach to meet with the National Security Council at the White House. “Our support for Israel’s security is strong. The United States will stand with the people of Israel and support their defense against threats from Iran,” said a statement sent by the White House while missiles were still falling on the Jewish state.
On April 1, Israel bombed the Iranian Consulate in Damascus and killed seven members of the Revolutionary Guard – including the leader of its elite Quds Force unit for Syria and Lebanon – increasing tensions in the region. All this time, Iran had already threatened to retaliate against Israel and its ally, the United States.
The Israeli military attack on the Iranian Consulate came at a time when relations with Washington were at their lowest ebb. The brutality of the Israeli military offensive on Gaza, which has already killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, was undermining Biden’s support for Netanyahu. On the same Monday, Israel also assassinated seven associates of the North American NGO World Central Kitchen. That attack was the last straw and Biden threatened his Israeli counterpart with consequences if he did not change his actions in the Strip.
Now when the threat of Tehran is looming over Israel, America has come to the rescue of its ally. Biden, conscious of the divisive image, has insisted that US forces will defend Tel Aviv.
In the statement sent this Saturday night, Biden also confirmed that under his instructions the US military mobilized aircraft and missile destroyers last week to provide assistance to Israel. Since the start of Israel’s offensive against Gaza, Washington has temporarily deployed a large number of troops to the Middle East, including warships, fighter jets, new air defense systems, hundreds of soldiers and a submarine.
United Nations called an emergency meeting
At the same time, the United Nations has called an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Sunday afternoon to pay attention to the situation in the region. This meeting will take place at the request of Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan. “Iran’s attack poses a serious threat to global peace and security, and we hope the Council will use all its resources to take concrete action against Iran,” Erdan wrote in a Twitter post.
According to Reuters, Iran’s mission to the United Nations has stressed that this is a conflict between Israel’s “Zionist regime” and Iran, and therefore, the United States should “stay out of it”.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has “strongly” condemned the incidents and called for an “immediate” cessation of hostilities amid fears of an increase in violence in the region.