Iran 'Actively Facilitating' Some Attacks On U.S. Military Bases, White House Says

Washington D.C./24.10.23/Turan:    The White House said on Monday that Iran was in some cases "actively facilitating" rocket and drone attacks by its proxy groups on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Syria, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

The move comes amid reports that several Mideast bases that include American military forces have been targeted by Iran proxy groups over the weekend, raising the specter of the U.S. being dragged into an armed conflict.

President Joe Biden has already directed the Pentagon to brace for more and respond appropriately, National Security Council's John Kirby told a daily briefing.

"We know Iran's goal is to maintain some level of deniability here, but we're not going to allow them to do that," Kirby said. "We also are not going to allow any threat to our interests in the region to go unchallenged"

Earlier in the day, Kirby told TURAN's Washington correspondent during a Foreign Press Center briefing that the Biden administration has "never been blind" to Iran’s destabilizing behaviors and the threats they pose in the region since coming into office.

He went on to elaborate: "That’s why we have added additional sanctions regimes – 40 of them since we came into office, 30 in just the last year alone. That’s why we bolstered our military presence in the region. Even before the conflict built with Hamas, we had bolstered naval and air capabilities in the Gulf region, and it’s why we are working so much closer in a more integrated way with our allies and partners in the region, trying to pursue, for instance, a regional integrated air and missile defense.  What do you think that’s about?  It’s all about Iran."

Kirby then added:  "We have been very focused on what Iran is doing.  We are not blind to the fact that they continue to support groups like Hamas and Hizballah and these militia groups in Iraq and in Syria that have been recently, over the course of the last weekend, attacking some of our facilities and our troops as well as our diplomats. We are certainly mindful of the impact that they have and the encouragement that they give to these groups."

He concluded: "Without getting ahead of where we are right now and what ways in which we might continue to hold Iran accountable, I can tell you that we are certainly not blind at all to what Iran is doing".

Alex Raufoglu