Tehran will face “severe consequences” for its large-scale missile attack on Israel on October 1, the White House said, after the United States employed military force to help defend its closest Middle Eastern ally from Iranian fire for the second time in five months, Report informs via The Washington Post.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the barrage of nearly 200 ballistic missiles fired at Israel late Tuesday, only the second time Iran has launched a direct attack on the Jewish state, represented a “significant escalation.” He said President Joe Biden was closely tracking the developments, as spiraling violence threatens to undermine one of the US leader’s chief foreign policy goals: preventing an all-out war across the Middle East.
“We are now going to look at what the appropriate next steps are to secure, first and foremost, American interests, and then to promote stability to the maximum extent possible as we go forward,” Sullivan told reporters at the White House. Officials said the attack had been largely ineffective, with one civilian death reported as initial assessments were made.
He declined to say what form the promised repercussions on Iran, already the object of extensive American sanctions, would take. “We have made clear that there will be consequences, severe consequences,” he said. “We will work with Israel to make that the case.”