US
President
Joe
Biden
makes
a
virtual
address
to
the
National
Action
Network
Convention,
in
the
South
Court
Auditorium
of
the
Eisenhower
Executive
Office
Building,
next
to
the
White
House
in
Washington,
DC,
on
April
12,
2024.
Mandel
Ngan
|
AFP
|
Getty
Images
President
Joe
Biden
said
Friday
that
he
expects Iran
will
strike
Israel soon,
and
reiterated
that
the
U.S.
would
support
and
defend
Israel
if
such
an
attack
occurred.
At
a White
House event,
when
asked
by
reporters
how
imminent
he
thought
an
attack
by
Iran
could
be,
Biden
said
that
while
he
didn’t
want
to
discuss
“secure
information,”
his
expectation
was
“sooner
than
later.”
Asked
what
his
message
to
Iran
was,
Biden
said,
“Don’t.”
“We
are
devoted
to
the
defense
of
Israel.
We
will
support
Israel,
we
will
help
defend
Israel
and
Iran
will
not
succeed,”
he
said.
Earlier
in
the
day,
National
Security
Council
spokesman
John
Kirby
told
reporters
that
U.S.
officials
are
in
“constant
communication”
with
their
Israeli
counterparts
“about
making
sure
that
they
can
defend
themselves
against
those
kinds
of
attacks.”
“We
do
believe
that
this
still
is
a
viable
threat,”
Kirby
said.
“We’re
doing
everything
we
can
to
make
sure
that
Israel
can
defend
itself.”
Iranian
officials,
including
the
country’s
supreme
leader, Ayatollah
Ali
Khamenei,
have
vowed
to
retaliate
against
Israel
over
the
attack
on
its
consulate
in
Damascus.
In
response,
Israel has
threatened to
launch
a
direct
strike
on
Iran
if
it
comes
under
attack.
NBC
News reported last
week
that
an
Iranian
attack
on
Israel
could
focus
on
military
or
intelligence
targets,
rather
than
civilians,
two
U.S.
officials
said.
The
officials
also
said
the
Biden
administration
had
started
considering
options
for
how
to
respond
to
various
possible
retaliatory
moves
by
Iran.
Iran
accused
Israel
of
striking
its
consulate
in
Damascus
on
April
1.
Israeli
officials
have
said
that
it
was
a
building
disguised
as
a
diplomatic
mission,
and
that
it’s
used
by
Iran’s
Quds
force
of
the
Islamic
Revolutionary
Guard
Corps.
