The killing of three American soldiers and the wounding of dozens of others on Sunday by Iran-backed militants is increasing political pressure on President Joe Biden to strike directly at Iran, something he has so far been reluctant to do for fear of sparking a wider war.
Biden’s response options could range from targeting Iranian forces outside and even inside Iran, or a more cautious retaliatory strike solely against the Iranian-backed militants responsible, experts said.
Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October, US forces in the Middle East have been attacked more than 150 times by Iranian-backed forces in Iraq, Syria, Jordan and off the coast of Yemen.
But until Sunday’s attack on the remote ‘Tower 22’ base near Jordan’s northeastern border with Syria, the attacks did not kill American soldiers or injure them as many.
That gave Biden political room for American retaliation, inflicting damage on Iranian-backed forces without the risk of outright war with Tehran.
Biden said the United States would respond, but gave no further details.
Republicans have accused Biden of allowing American soldiers to become targets, waiting for the day when a drone or missile evades air defenses.
It is said to have happened on Sunday, when a one-way attack drone struck near the base’s barracks early in the morning.
In response, they say Biden must attack Iran.
“He left our soldiers as targets,” said Republican US Senator Tom Cato. “The only response to these attacks must be devastating military retaliation against Iranian terrorist forces, both in Iran and throughout the Middle East,” he added.
Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the US House Military Oversight Committee, also called for action against Tehran.
“It is long past time for President Biden to finally hold the terrorist Iranian regime and their extremist proxies accountable for the attacks they have carried out,” Rogers said.
Former President Donald Trump, who hopes to face Biden in this year’s presidential election, described the attack as “the result of Joe Biden’s weakness and surrender.”
The Biden administration has said it is working hard to protect American soldiers around the world.
Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee openly expressed concern that Biden’s strategy of containing the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza is failing.
“As we are seeing now, the war is getting out of hand. It is starting to emerge as a regional war, and unfortunately the United States and our soldiers are at risk,” Li said, calling again for a ceasefire in the Israeli-Palestinian war.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations said on Monday that Tehran was not involved in a drone strike that killed three US servicemen in northeastern Jordan, near the Syrian border.
In the press release, published by the state news agency IRNA, the mission says that Iran had nothing to do with the attack on the American base.
They also add that “there is a conflict between US forces and resistance groups in the region, who are retaliating against the attacks”, Hina news agency writes.
