US anticipates Iran's retaliation against Israel, but won't be drawn to war
America doesn't expect a big enough response from Tehran that would draw Washington into a wider war, a US official says.
US has been on high alert about possible retaliatory strikes from Iran, and US envoys have been working to lower tensions. / Photo: AA Archive
The United States expects a retaliation by Iran against Israel but one that would not be big enough to draw Washington into war, a US official has said.
The White House said earlier Washington did not want conflict to spread in the Middle East, and the US had told Iran it was not involved in an air strike against its consulate in Damascus.
The White House added it warned Iran to not use that attack as a pretext to escalate further in the region.
Israeli warplanes bombed Iran's embassy in Damascus on Monday in a strike for which Iran has vowed revenge and in which a top Iranian general and six other Iranian military officers were killed, ratcheting up tension in a region already strained by Israel's carnage in besieged Gaza.
Iranian sources told the Reuters news agency that Tehran has signalled to Washington that it will respond to Israel's attack on its Syrian embassy in a way that aims to avoid major escalation and it will not act hastily, as Tehran presses demands including a Gaza truce.
The United States has been on high alert about possible retaliatory strikes from Iran, and US envoys have been working to lower tensions.
Israel's carnage and US role
The tensions come as Israel continues its brutal war on besieged Gaza, in which Tel Aviv has killed more than 33,500 people and wounded over 76,000 in the blockaded enclave.
Tel Aviv's brutal war on the blockaded enclave displaced some 85 percent of its population, while 60 percent of the enclave's infrastructure is either damaged or destroyed.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered Tel Aviv to take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided and civilians protected in Gaza. Since then Israel committed many massacres.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories, said recently there were reasonable grounds to believe Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The US declared its support for Israel since October last year. US never holds back in arming Israel, regardless of alarming Gaza civilian casualties. The United States gives Israel $3.8 billion in annual military dole and often shields its ally at the United Nations.
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