Urged to act, but to what extent?
The question torments the United States which, although it repeats that it does not want "neither escalation nor war in the Middle East", finds itself drawn into a remote conflict with Iran - under fire from armed groups close to Tehran - after the death of three of its soldiers in a drone attack on the Jordanian-Syrian border this Sunday.
Pressure is mounting on President Joe Biden who has promised “substantial” retaliation.
“That's what I think many of us feared, that arguably the administration feared, that U.S. allies, whether Arab or otherwise, feared: that Iran would make a bad move calculation, make a mistake like this and force the United States to retaliate at a much higher level,” says George Washington University professor Gordon Gray.
These are the first American soldiers killed in the Middle East since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7.
The attack carried out this Sunday also comes in the wake of all those carried out by pro-Iranian groups using drones or rockets on American installations in Iraq and Syria.
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Most of these attacks were also claimed by the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq”, a nebula of fighters from pro-Iran armed groups, who say they act in support of the Palestinians and demand the departure of American soldiers deployed in Iraq.
For their part, the Yemeni Houthi rebels, also close to Iran, are increasing attacks against merchant shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, there also putting the United States under pressure, forcing it to retaliate.
Until now, the carefully calibrated American response has been through strikes aimed at weakening the rocket, missile or drone launching capabilities of these groups.
But this did not have the desired deterrent effect.
After the attack in Jordan, "the challenge for Washington is to ensure that the response is significant enough to prevent new attacks against American forces, without triggering a new war in the region", summarizes Alex Plitsas, of Atlantic Council, a think tank in the American capital.
American officials tirelessly repeat that they do not want escalation and still hope to be able to contain a conflict that threatens to spread.
For its part, Tehran has denied any involvement in Sunday's attack, and warns of a regional escalation.