Fox News host John Roberts pressed White House national security adviser John Kirby on taking “substantive action” against Iran following multiple attacks on U.S. troops.
Iranian-backed groups have launched 52 attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria between Oct. 17 and Nov. 13, including 24 in Iraq and 28 in Syria, a Pentagon official told Kurdistan 24 on Monday. Kirby said President Joe Biden’s administration is not seeking conflict with Iran.
Roberts pointed to former President Ronald Reagan taking out training camps in Iran in the 1980s and former President Donald Trump assassinating Qasem Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force, in an airstrike after “a single American was killed.”
“In both cases, Iran backed down,” Roberts said. “So I think the nation, to some degree, is wondering what is President Biden waiting for? Is he waiting for Americans to be killed before he takes substantive action that will actually give Iran pause, by telling his proxies to keep harassing us?”
“We’re not waiting for anything, John. As you just saw over the weekend, we’re certainly able and willing to take retaliatory strikes to protect our troops and our facilities and we’ll continue to do that. These groups and the IRCG [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps], they have a choice to make. We’re not looking to escalate, but if they continue to attack our troops, if they continue to put their lives in danger, we’ll continue to take action and do what we have to do to protect that,” Kirby said.
The Biden spokesperson said no one in the administration is looking for a war with Iran, but they will continue to “protect” the troops in Iraq and Syria. U.S. troops remains present in the two countries to fight against ISIS, an Islamic terrorist group. (RELATED: Iran Using Group Behind Attacks On US Troops In The Middle East To Increase Pressure On White House)
Roberts asked why the administration has not planned to “slap them back really hard,” referring to Iran, as the nation plans to create escalation in the Middle East. Kirby assured the troops present in the Middle East will be protected and the administration will “look after our national security interests.”
“The message is clear to Iran or any actor, be Hezbollah or Hamas, anybody else that wants to escalate this conflict, the United States takes that seriously and we’ll make sure we get the fire power to back it up,” Kirby added.
The U.S. has carried out several retaliatory strikes in Syria and Iraq to defend the U.S. troops being attacked by Iranian-backed groups.