Middle EastAnalysis

Biden urged to respond with military force after three US troops killed in Iran-backed drone attack

Security chief says US not seeking to engage in conflict with Iran over attack on military base in Jordan, but will ‘absolutely do what is required to protect ourselves’

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the troops were part of a mission in the region aimed at countering terror group Isis. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Keith Duggan's face
Keith Duggan in Washington
Mon Jan 29 2024 - 21:12

US president Joe Biden met his national security team on Monday as he deliberates on how to respond to the deaths of three US troops in a strike by an Iran-backed militia group. Sunday’s drone attack on a military base in Jordan prompted calls for a strong military response from the White House, which has vowed to take appropriate action while stressing that the United States is not seeking to engage in a conflict with Iran.

“These troops were conducting a wider mission in the region aimed at helping us work with partners to counter [the terror group] Isis,” said John Kirby, the National Security Council co-ordinator for strategic communications.

“And even as the defence department gathers more information about the attack, that mission must and will continue. The counter-Isis mission is separate and distinct and is unrelated to our efforts to support Israel in preventing a wider conflict in the region,” he said. “We do not seek another war. We do not seek to escalate. But we will absolutely do what is required to protect ourselves, to continue that mission and to respond appropriately to these attacks.”

Calculating whether or not the attack was a conscious attempt by the Iranian leadership to provoke the US will be central to the formulated response from Mr Biden.

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“I am not going to telegraph any responses or get ahead of the president and his decision-making,” Mr Kirby said.

“He has met twice with his national security team, yesterday and today, and is weighing the options before him. As he said yesterday: we will do that on our schedule, in our time and we will do it in a manner of the president’s choosing as commander-in-chief. And we will also do it fully cognisant of the fact that these groups backed by Tehran have just taken the lives of American troops.”

The three US troops were killed when a drone packed with explosives detonated at their base, Tower 22, a small outpost near the Syrian-Jordan border. More than 40 people were injured. Their deaths marked the first fatalities in three months of at least 160 assaults by Iran-backed militia groups on US troops in the region since October.

Experts say the US will have to respond even more strongly than before, possibly killing some very senior "Iraqi or possibly even Iranian militia leaders."

Iran denied involvement in the attack, which was claimed by an umbrella group calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.

It was confirmed on Monday that US troops at the military base in Jordan mistakenly identified the drone as one of their own.

“I think I am going to let the defence department speak about the forensics on this,” Mr Kirby said. “I’m sure they are already picking it apart and finding out how this happened.”

[ Concerns Gaza conflict could spread as three US soldiers killed in drone attack in Jordan ]

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said the US would “take all necessary action,” to defend its troops.

“Let me start with my outrage and sorrow for the death of three brave US troops in Jordan – and for the other troops who were wounded,” he said at the start of a meeting with Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg.

The attack generated a swift response from prominent Republican Party members demanding retaliation from Mr Biden.

“He left our troops as sitting ducks, and now three are dead and dozens wounded, sadly as I’ve predicted would happen for months,” Arkansas senator Tom Cotton said in a statement.

“The only answer to these attacks must be devastating military retaliation against Iran’s terrorist forces, both in Iran and across the Middle East. Anything less will confirm Joe Biden as a coward unworthy of being commander-in-chief.”

Former president and now candidate for re-election Donald Trump said the attack represented “another horrific and tragic consequence of Joe Biden’s weakness and surrender”.

Speaking in South Carolina on Sunday, Mr Biden paid tribute to the service members who lost their lives and vowed to “carry on their commitment to fight terrorism”.

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