Biden is “exploring” response options after the deadly attack on the military in Jordan, the White House says
U.S. President Joe Biden attends a Reproductive Health Task Force meeting at the White House in Washington on January 22, 2024. (Image credit: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
US President Joe Biden and his national security team are weighing response options after three US soldiers were killed and dozens more injured in Jordan, the White House said Monday morning.
National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby told CNN's Phil Mattingly that the president is “currently working through 'response options.'
“He had a good meeting with the national security team yesterday. He still has room to make decisions and they will certainly get there,” Kirby said.
As for which group was responsible for the attack, Kirby said the government was still “investigating attribution and which group specifically was responsible.”
“I think we have a pretty good idea,” Kirby said, “and we certainly believe that the group was supported by Kata'ib Hezbollah, one of the main IRGC-backed groups in Iraq and Syria, which carried out actions “We have carried out so many of these attacks against our troops at our facilities.
Kirby also said that while this is the first deadly attack on U.S. military personnel in the region since the Oct. 7 attacks, it is far from the first attempt.
“This one had deadly consequences, unlike the previous ones, but that doesn't mean the intent of the previous attacks wasn't also deadly, just that we were able to defeat them,” he said.