US: Biden to Meet National Security Team Fearing Iran’s Response to “Israel’s” Attack

By Staff, Agencies

US President Joe Biden is set to meet his national security team on Monday to discuss “developments in the Middle East”, the White House has said, as the US deploys extra fighter jets and warships to the region amid growing expectations of an Iranian response on the “Israeli” attack that led to the martyrdom of Hamas political leader Ismail Hanyieh.

Regional tensions have increased after the assassination last week of Haniyeh in Tehran a day after an “Israeli” strike in Beirut martyred Hezbollah Commander Fouad Shokor.

Biden will also speak to Jordan’s King Abdullah II, the White House said, as the US launches a fresh round of diplomacy aimed at cooling tensions.

 “The overall goal is to turn the temperature down in the region, deter and defend against those attacks, and avoid regional conflict,” Jonathan Finer, the White House’s deputy national security adviser, said on CBS’ Face the Nation program. The US and “Israel” are preparing for every possibility, Finer added.

During a conversation between US secretary of state Antony Blinken and Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Sunday, al-Sudani told the US diplomat that preventing the spread of the conflict was tied to stopping “Israeli” aggression on the Gaza Strip, Iraqi state media said.