U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday that Israel should not hit Iran’s nuclear program in responding to Tuesday’s ballistic missile attack by the Iranian regime.
On Tuesday, the U.S. and other allies assisted Israel in shooting down most of the 181 ballistic missiles fired by Iran, none of which caused injuries or deaths inside Israel.
However, the missile attack — the second in six months — sent the entire nation of Israel into bomb shelters.
Israel is determined to respond and says that it will do so in a place, time, and manner of its choosing. But the Biden administration, which told Israel to limit its response to the first attack in April, appears to want to restrain Israel again.
Biden spoke to reporters at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland before departing on Air Force One to visit regions affected by Hurricane Helene.
He said that the G-7 nations were preparing a statement and that they would announce sanctions against Iran.
Asked by a reporter if Israel should attack Iran’s nuclear program, Biden said simply: “No.” He said that the G-7 agreed that Israel had a right to respond, but said that it should do so “proportionally,” which he did not explain.
The Times of Israel reported that Israel’s security cabinet decided to coordinate its response to Iran with the U.S.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.