PRESIDENT Biden is drawing up plans for a “VERY consequential” revenge strike on the Iran-backed militia responsible for the deaths of three US troops.
Saturday’s drone attack on an American base in Jordan led to the first US deaths by enemy fire since the start of the Israel-Hamas war – marking a major escalation in the Middle East crisis.
On Monday, Biden held private meetings with his national security team to discuss the “unacceptable” attack – and officials said they are preparing to hit back with force.
White House national security spokesman, John Kirby, vowed that a “very consequential response” would be carried out.
He ruled out the possibility of directly attacking Iran, stating the US would not “escalate” the conflict.
However, he said: “We will absolutely do what is required to protect ourselves.”
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US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said Biden’s response could be “multi-levelled, come in stages and be sustained over time”.
The Pentagon is said to be considering launching revenge attacks on Iranian-backed troops in the region, The Telegraph reports.
The US is also said to be debating targeting facilities used by the regime’s feared terrorist army, The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The US has 45,000 military personnel currently stationed in the Middle East.
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The Eisenhower aircraft carrier strike group and a nuclear-powered submarine are also patrolling the troubled Red Sea.
The US has now released the names of the three Army Reserve troops killed in the drone ambush on their Tower 22 outpost near Syria.
Sgt William Rivers, 46, Specialist Kennedy Sanders, 24, and Specialist Breonna Moffett, 23, were killed in the unprecedented attack on the troops’ living quarters that injured another 34.
Iran has flatly denied any responsibility for the attack and called US claims it was involved “repetition of baseless accusations”.
Nasser Kanaani, an Iranian ministry spokesman, said: “The groups in the region do not take orders from Iran.
“War is not a solution. An immediate ceasefire in Gaza can lead to the return of peace.”
The Iran-backed Islamist Resistance in Iraq, a loose coalition of Islamist militias that oppose US support for Israel over the war in Gaza, claimed credit for the attack.
However, Kirby said that US officials had not confirmed which Iranian-supported militia were responsible.
On Sunday, Biden promised that the US will “respond” and “hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing”.
He added: “While we are still gathering the facts of this attack, we know it was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq.”
US and British forces are currently battling the Iran-backed Houthi rebels who have been waging war on commercial shipping in the Red Sea to avenge Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
Shortly after the October 7 attacks sparked a war between Israel and Hamas, the Yemen-based militia launched a spate of missile and drone attacks on any ships they deemed to have links with Israel.
In reality, the terror-waging pirate attacks have been largely indiscriminate – targeting ships with little or no links to Israel and turning one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes into a warzone.
A US-led naval coalition has responded by aggressively patrolling the Red Sea, and US and UK forces have struck Houthi military sites across Yemen to keep open the vital trade route.
It comes as Royal Navy destroyer HMS Diamond was forced to defend itself against a Houthi drone ambush on Saturday.
The UK Ministry of Defence said they had “successfully repelled” the Houthi attack using Sea Viper missile- which marked only the third time a Type 45 destroyer has deployed the devastating weapons.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said on Sunday that Britain “remains undaunted” by the drone assault.
Just weeks ago the same warship was hit in what Shapps dubbed the biggest attack from the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date.
Last Friday, a burning British oil tanker was rescued off the coast of Yemen after it was struck by a missile.
The increasingly emboldened Houthis claimed responsibility for the chilling revenge attack on the Marlin Luanda ship, which burst into flames in the Gulf of Aden.
The rebel group has even been taunting the West by staging tours onboard the captured British tanker, the Galaxy Leader.
On November 19, Houthi gunmen jumped from choppers and attacked the Japan-chartered container ship, taking its entire crew hostage.
The militants – who said they were acting in “solidarity” with people in the besieged Gaza Strip – later sailed it back to Yemen and opened it up as a designated “tourist cruise ship”.
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For about a dollar per trip, male-only groups of terror-supporting visitors can board wooden boats five times a week to marvel at the hijacked carrier.
And all the while, the Houthis have released no information regarding the fates of its 25 international crew members.
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Iona Cleave
