While speaking with reporters outside of the White House on Tuesday morning, President Joe Biden said he had made a decision about how the United States will respond to Sunday’s attack on a U.S. base in Jordan. A drone strike by an Iran-backed militia killed three American service members and injured dozens more, according to American officials.
“Have you made a decision about how to respond to the attack?” a reporter asked the president.
“Yes,” Biden replied bluntly.
“I don’t think we need a wider war in the Middle East. That’s not what I’m looking for,” the commander-in-chief later added, responding to a different reporter’s question.
“We will respond. We’ll do that on our schedule, in our time, and we’ll do it in the manner of president’s choosing,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in the White House press briefing Monday. “We’ll also do it fully cognizant of the fact that these groups, backed by Tehran, have just taken the lives of American troops.”
