WASHINGTON — President Biden said Wednesday that he opposes a possible preemptive Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear weapons program sites as tensions between the countries grow.
“The answer is no,” the 81-year-old retiring president told reporters under the wing of Air Force One as he departed Washington for a trip to North Carolina to tour Hurricane Helene damage.
Iran on Tuesday directly attacked Israel for a second time this year — launching some 200 rockets that reportedly did little damage and caused no known Israeli casualties.
Tehran’s volley followed Israel’s stunning assassination Friday of longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, after wiping out much of the Iran-backed Lebanese group’s leadership with a series of recent strikes and a spate of novel electronic pager explosions.
The White House vowed Tuesday to impose consequences on Iran for its latest attack on Israel — after a similar attack in April — but would not commit to tightening the enforcement of sanctions against Iranian oil exports, despite bipartisan calls to do so from Congress.
The fate of Iran’s nuclear program was the topic of the first question Tuesday night at the vice presidential debate — with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic running mate, declining to say if he would support Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear program and Republican Sen. JD Vance saying he would support whatever Israel decides.
It’s unclear if the Israeli government will listen to Biden’s latest policy preference — after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ignored Biden’s demand Monday that he not authorize incursions into southern Lebanon to disable Hezbollah sites.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Biden’s warning against an invasion of Lebanon was viewed in Israel “as almost pro forma, given that there was no threat nor was there any presentation of an imminent diplomatic solution.”