{"id":116137,"date":"2024-01-31T08:48:42","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T13:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/?p=116137"},"modified":"2024-01-31T08:48:42","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T13:48:42","slug":"us-preparing-multiple-actions-to-deter-iran-proxies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2024\/01\/31\/us-preparing-multiple-actions-to-deter-iran-proxies\/","title":{"rendered":"US Preparing ‘Multiple Actions’ to Deter Iran Proxies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"VOA \u2014 As the United States prepares \u201cmultiple actions\u201d in response to a drone attack by Iran-backed militants that killed American soldiers, Kataib Hezbollah, one of the more powerful of Iran\u2019s Iraq-based proxies, announced it is suspending all its military operations against U.S. troops in the region.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden said he has decided on a military course of action in response to the attack on a U.S. base in Jordan near the border of Iraq and Syria that killed three American soldiers and wounded more than 40 others.<\/p>\n

Neither Biden nor his officials provided details. But speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the goal is to ensure the U.S. degrades the groups\u2019 capabilities to attack American troops and facilities, while sending a \u201cstrong signal to their backers\u201d in Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president will do what he has to do to protect our troops and our facilities and to look after our national security … interests in the region,\u201d he said, adding that Biden\u2019s order will be a \u201ctiered approach\u201d encompassing \u201cpotentially multiple actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\"FILE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

SEE ALSO:<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

3 US Troops Killed, 34 Wounded in Drone Attack in Jordan<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Sunday\u2019s attack on the U.S. base in Jordan killed the first U.S. service members in the Middle East since Israel\u2019s war with Hamas erupted in Gaza on October 7.<\/p>\n

An umbrella group for Iranian-backed militias, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, has claimed responsibility for the attack. The Pentagon says the drone strike has the \u201cfootprints\u201d of Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah, although the U.S. has not given final attribution of who is responsible.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Kataib Hezbollah said its suspension of military operations against U.S. troops in the region is done \u201cin order to prevent embarrassment of the Iraqi government.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to defend our people in Gaza in other ways,\u201d the group\u2019s Secretary-General Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi said in a statement released by the group on Telegram.<\/p>\n

Kataib Hezbollah\u2019s announcement did not mention any threat of an American response. But the timing is no coincidence, said Matthew Kroenig, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is pretty simple: When America puts credible military options on the table, adversaries back down,\u201d he told VOA.<\/p>\n

Kataib Hezbollah\u2019s statement to cease hostilities is unlikely to sway Washington from planning its response. Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder told reporters Tuesday that \u201cactions speak louder than words,\u201d and vowed \u201cconsequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran\u2019s ambassador to the United Nations, told Iranian journalists late Tuesday that Iran would \u201cdecisively respond to any attack on the country, its interests and nationals under any pretexts,\u201d according to the state-run IRNA news agency.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"FILE<\/div>\n<\/div>
FILE – Members of an Iraqi Shiite militant group attend the funeral of a fighter with the Kataib Hezbollah, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike, in Baghdad, Iraq, Jan. 25, 2024.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Tough balancing act<\/strong><\/p>\n

Biden has been aiming to calibrate his retaliation to contain the growing risk of a regional war.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we need a wider war in the Middle East,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s not what I\u2019m looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deterring Iran and its proxies while preventing an all-out war is a tough balancing act for Biden. Ahead of the November presidential election, the action he takes must be seen as strong enough to avoid criticism from hawkish Republicans, yet measured enough that it will not draw Washington into another conflict.<\/p>\n

Among the options that Biden has are targeting Iranian-backed militias in the region and launching strikes on Iran\u2019s military targets or taking out their leadership \u2014 decisions that previous American presidents have taken in response to Tehran\u2019s provocations.<\/p>\n

In 1988, former U.S. President Ronald Reagan\u00a0ordered Operation Praying Mantis<\/a>, which crippled Iran\u2019s naval fleet in retaliation for the mining of the\u00a0USS Samuel B. Roberts<\/em>\u00a0that blew a massive hole in the ship\u2019s hull and injured 10 sailors.<\/p>\n

In 2020, former U.S. President\u00a0Donald Trump ordered<\/a>\u00a0the drone strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who was blamed for numerous terrorist attacks internationally.<\/p>\n

Following Soleimani\u2019s killing, Tehran launched a barrage of missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq, causing injuries but no fatalities, and imposed sanctions on U.S. officials. A similar \u201ctoken response\u201d would be the best-case scenario for Biden, Kroenig said.<\/p>\n

Some Republicans, including Senator Lindsey Graham, have pushed for a much harsher approach, suggesting on a recent Fox News interview that Washington should bomb IRGC headquarters inside Iran and \u201cblow it off the map.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher told VOA Persian that Iran must answer for its attacks on Americans. “Iran is the primary source of chaos in the middle east, so it’s time for the Biden administration to abandon its policy of appeasement and rapprochement with Iran and reimpose and policy of maximum pressure,” he said.<\/p>\n

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he believes the U.S. must have a strong response. “Iran is responsible for supporting these proxies. Whatever the administration is thinking about, it has to be directed against Iran,” he told VOA Persian.<\/p>\n

Top officials in Biden\u2019s own administration have argued that dealing with Tehran is key to the region\u2019s security.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Iranian regime has been emboldened by the crisis and seems ready to fight to its last regional proxy,\u201d said CIA Director William Burns, writing in a recent article in\u00a0Foreign Policy\u00a0<\/em>magazine.<\/p>\n

Asked if this coming response will credibly deter Iran, Biden said, \u201cWe’ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Credible deterrence<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite retaliatory attacks from Washington, Iran-backed groups have launched more than 160 strikes on American military facilities in the region. Houthi militias, another Tehran proxy, also have continued their missile and drone attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea, despite multiple U.S. airstrikes against their infrastructure in Yemen.<\/p>\n

The U.S. must consider other options said retired commander of the United States Central Command General McKenzie.<\/p>\n

\u201cConduct retaliatory strikes that hurt them,\u201d he told VOA. \u201cI don’t think we need to limit ourselves to responses just in Syria and Iraq as we consider this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others are skeptical the administration can achieve both deterring Iran and preventing a regional conflagration.<\/p>\n

The goals are in conflict with one another, said Adam Weinstein, deputy director of the Middle East program at the Quincy Institute, a think tank that advocates for restraint in American foreign policy. Iran is unlikely to be deterred and U.S. troops placed in the region \u201cserve as a tripwire\u201d for wider conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re putting them in harm’s way for an unclear benefit,\u201d he told VOA. \u201cOr a benefit that’s minimal at best against an enemy that is really accountable to nobody, which are these Iran-aligned militias.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are about 900 U.S. troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq. U.S. officials say they are part of an ongoing operation to keep the Islamic State group from re-emerging and to provide a counterweight to Iran\u2019s influence in the region.<\/p>\n

Just days before the drone attack that killed American soldiers, the U.S. and Iraq announced the beginning of talks to end the U.S.-led international military coalition in Iraq, continuing a process that has been stalled by the Israel-Hamas war. The attack is likely to delay such plans.<\/p>\n

VOA national security correspondent Jeff Seldin and reporter Begum Ersoz of VOA\u2019s Turkish Service contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VOA \u2014 As the United States prepares \u201cmultiple actions\u201d in response to a drone attack by Iran-backed militants that killed American soldiers, Kataib Hezbollah, one of the more powerful of Iran\u2019s Iraq-based proxies, announced it is suspending all its military operations against U.S. troops in the region. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, U.S. President Joe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":116138,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latests"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["fa","en"],"languages":{"fa":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116137"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116141,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116137\/revisions\/116141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}