The United States has already approved plans to respond to the drone attack on a base in Jordan that killed three American soldiers and wounded 41 others. The Pentagon plans a series of strikes against Iranian targets in Syria and Iraq, CBS has reported News this Thursday, citing US officials.
The president, Joe Biden, has said that he has already decided how to respond, although he has not publicly revealed those plans and the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, has avoided specifying them in a press conference.
According to CBS information, weather conditions are a factor to take into account when planning attacks, since the Pentagon prefers to carry them out when there is good visibility over the objectives to avoid hitting civilians.
The plans call for a series of attacks over several days against targets, including Iranian personnel and facilities, inside Iraq and Syria.
The idea of various actions over several days has been making its way from the beginning, given the dispersion of the potential objectives.
The Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, avoided specifying the plans this Thursday in the first press conference he gave so far this year, in which he also apologized for the lack of transparency about his hospitalization for prostate cancer. .
“This is a dangerous time in the Middle East.
We will continue to work to avoid further conflict in the region, but we will take all necessary steps to defend the United States, our interests, and our people.
And we will respond when we choose, where we choose and how we choose.
That is what everyone is focused on here now,” he said in his initial intervention.
Washington seeks that balance in its response: that it does not cause an escalation of the conflict, but that it is forceful enough to send a clear message and punish enemy positions to prevent new attacks.
After being asked about the retaliation plans, Austin has avoided specifying: “We have not described what our response will be, but we want those responsible to be held accountable,” he said.
“We will have a multi-level response and, again, we have the ability to respond multiple times, depending on what the situation is,” he added.
“The president will not tolerate attacks against American troops,” Austin said.
“Our colleagues were murdered by radical militias backed by Iran and operating within Syria and Iraq,” he added, in what seemed like a description of an objective.
For now, Washington has said that the attack on its troops on Saturday in Jordan, near the border with Syria, targeted a pro-Iran militia based in neighboring Iraq.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, believed to contain multiple militias that have been armed, financed and trained by Iran's Revolutionary Guard forces, claimed responsibility for the attack but said Wednesday it was suspending military action against U.S. forces. .
Iran has denied involvement in the attack.
The controversial hospitalization
The Secretary of Defense appeared at a press conference for the first time this year.
It was also Austin's first public intervention since his controversial secret hospitalization on January 1, so questions about the lack of transparency of his actions have been intermingled with those related to the conflict in the Middle East.
Austin has apologized for having kept his intervention a secret for prostate cancer that became complicated and led to his admission.
Austin explained that he has also apologized to Biden for not having informed him in time.
“We haven't done it well and I haven't done it well.
I should have informed the president of my cancer diagnosis.
“I take full responsibility,” declared Austin, 70, at the press conference.
“The news shook me,” he said, referring to when he received the diagnosis.
“Frankly, my first instinct was to keep it private,” he added.
Austin was diagnosed with prostate cancer in early December and underwent surgery on December 22.
On January 1, he was taken by ambulance to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after experiencing extreme pain due to an infection resulting from the operation and was admitted to the intensive care unit.
He moved the decision-making to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, who was vacationing in Puerto Rico, but she did not tell him why.
She also did not inform Biden or other senior officials about her diagnosis, his surgery or his hospitalization until several days after he was in intensive care.
Austin, who worked from home for two weeks after leaving the hospital on Jan. 15, returned to work at the Pentagon on Monday.
He had not been in the building since December 21.
This Thursday he appeared in public for the first time.
His lack of transparency has led to changes in federal guidance and triggered an internal Pentagon review and another by the inspector general of his department's reporting procedures that are underway.
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