Biden says he won’t support an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he would not support a strike by Israel on Iranian nuclear sites in retaliation for Tuesday’s missile attack, signaling an effort to restrain Israel from responding with such force that it could trigger a wider regional war.

Biden’s statement came just hours after he agreed with the leaders of the Group of 7 countries to impose new sanctions on Iran in the wake of the ballistic missile attack on Israel. The president told reporters that the leaders – from France, Canada, Japan, Britain, Italy and Germany – had agreed that Israel had the right to respond to Iran’s attack.

But when a reporter asked whether he would support a decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, Biden said he would consider that a step too far.

“The answer is no,” the president said as he boarded Air Force One on his way to tour damage from Hurricane Helene in South Carolina and North Carolina. “All seven of us agree that they have a right to respond, but they should respond in proportion.”

Military analysts believe it would be difficult for Israel to significantly damage Iran’s nuclear facilities, which are buried deep underground, without at least some support from the United States. That reality made the president’s comments on Wednesday a serious hurdle.

The message was a diplomatic echo of what Biden has been saying to Israel’s leaders for almost a year. During that time he has urged them not to let their justifiable anger at the actions of their enemies compel them to make military decisions that could have negative long-term consequences for the security of the Israeli population and the entire region.

But Biden has struggled to persuade Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to exercise restraint in response to the surprise Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7 that killed more than 1,200 people, as well as the provocations from Hezbollah and Iran.

The president and his aides have at times appeared overly optimistic about their ability to influence Netanyahu’s decision-making, only to be disappointed when the prime minister took actions that ran counter to their advice. Israel’s monthslong bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip, where more than 40,000 people have died, often came over the objections of Biden and others in his administration.

People familiar with discussions between Biden’s national security officials and their counterparts in Israel said Wednesday that the Israeli government did not appear eager to dramatically escalate the conflict with Iran after Tuesday’s missile attacks.

The strike, which followed Israel’s killing of Hezbollah’s leader last week, was the second time in six months that Iran has directly attacked Israel. In April, Iran fired about 120 missiles and drones at Israel; Tuesday’s attack included about 200 missiles. In both cases, the United States helped Israel shoot down almost all of the incoming threats.

Some U.S. officials have concluded that the Israelis seem less eager for a major confrontation than they did in April, when the Biden administration talked them down from a large military response. If that assessment is accurate, it could help prevent the Middle East conflict from growing.

But public statements from Netanyahu and private comments from others in his government suggest that the U.S. officials might once again be overly optimistic, with Israel seemingly ready to strike Iran in a more forceful and public way than it ever has.

At the same time, Israel is continuing to battle Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.

Over the past several weeks, Biden administration officials have warned Netanyahu that the fighting there could devolve into a Middle East conflict that draws in not only Iran but the United States and other countries. But Netanyahu has pursued an aggressive military campaign in Lebanon that largely ignored that advice.

Netanyahu’s order to approve the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, came even as the United States and a dozen other nations were calling for a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon.

One senior U.S. official said the Biden administration’s understanding is that Israel’s military clash with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon is “local and targeted and temporary in nature.” The administration’s view is that Israel is not seeking to invade Lebanon or hold territory, the U.S. official said.

The Biden administration was still in contact with Israeli and Lebanese officials on Wednesday and was hoping to find a diplomatic solution to end the conflict and allow “people the ability to go back to their homes.” U.S. officials, however, were growing increasingly concerned that the broader war in the Middle East that Biden had warned about for months was becoming a reality.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.