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United States has remarked that it does not want war with Iran, and does not believe Tehran is seeking war either. The statement from Pentagon comes only a day after an Iran-backed group allegedly killed three soldiers of the United States in Jordan. “We don’t seek war, but we will take action, and respond to attacks on our forces,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said.
Pentagon has informed that aside from the three soldiers killed, more than 40 troops were wounded in the attack, most with cuts, bruises, brain injuries and similar wounds. Eight were medically evacuated, including three who were going to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. The other five, who suffered “minor traumatic brain injuries,” were expected to return to duty.
According to officials, US forces may have mistaken the enemy drone for an American one and let it pass unchallenged into a desert base in Jordan where it killed three US troops.
As the enemy drone was flying in at a low altitude, a U.S. drone was returning to the small installation known as Tower 22, according to a preliminary report cited by two officials.
The Pentagon spokesperson assured “action” in response to the attacks on US forces. Sabrina Singh blamed Iran for enabling groups attacking the United States and said the latest attack carried the “footprints” of Iran-backed Katiab Hezbollah.
The latest flare up comes amid a war like situation US faces in the trade route infested Red Sea, where the Houthis from Yemen have been launching missile attacks on merchant vehicles, including oil tankers, potentially disrupting supply chain.
US had also reportedly launched airstrikes in Yemen land in retaliation to the Red Sea attacks. The Houthis have cited solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza for their attacks in Red Sea. The densely populated Gaza strip have witnessed at least 25,000 accounted for deaths as Israel launched an offensive over three months ago.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden faced a difficult balancing act, blaming Iran and looking to strike back in a forceful way without causing any further escalation of the Gaza conflict.
The US President has been under piling political pressure to deal a blow directly against Iran, a move he’s been reluctant to do out of fear of igniting a broader war.
US President Joe Biden promised on Sunday to “hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner (of) our choosing” but said the US wasn’t seeking to get into another conflict in the Middle East.
While US has been falling shy of declaring war against Tehran, for the fear of a full-fledged Middle East conflict, the drone attack killing three US soldiers in a remote Tower 22, has given US President Joe Biden, just the political space to mete out US retaliation, inflicting costs on Iran-backed forces without risking a direct war with Tehran.
The Pentagon identified those killed in the attack as Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Georgia; Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Georgia; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia.
American forces in the Middle East have been attacked more than 150 times by Iran-backed forces in Iraq, Syria, Jordan and off the coast of Yemen since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October, according to Reuters report.
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Published: 30 Jan 2024, 06:32 AM IST
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