A foreign affairs analyst told Newsweek on Sunday that the killing of U.S. troops by Iran-backed militants in Jordan "ups the ante" for conflict in the Middle East.
On Saturday night, three United States military personnel were killed and at least 34 more were injured in a drone strike. President Joe Biden said in a statement on Sunday that the attack on a U.S. base in northeastern Jordan, near the Syrian border, "was carried out by radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq." He later said on the campaign trail in South Carolina that the U.S. "shall respond."
This attack further escalates conflict in the Middle East, which, in recent months, has seen Israel at war with Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza and the U.S. striking against the Houthis, an Iran-backed group who have attacked shipping vessels in the Red Sea that they believed had connections to Israel.
The U.S.'s "number one priority is always force protection in the immediate moment, and by force protection, I mean, identifying the source of the attack...and target that source to try to ensure that there is a clear one for one response," Joel Rubin, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for House Affairs during the Obama administration, told Newsweek via telephone on Sunday in the wake of the attack in Jordan.
Rubin continued: "The difference in this attack was because there was a loss of American soldier life, it now ups the ante and likely means that...the direct source is not the only target potentially, but also sort of the path to get that target.
"In other words, how did that source get its weaponry? Where did it come from? This has the potential for expansion and so this is also a challenge, and we have allies in the region that need to step up right now and work with us to get the Iranians to turn the machine off."
Lawmakers have already called for the U.S. to fight back against Iran. Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, wrote on X on Sunday, "Hit Iran now. Hit them hard," while Senator Tim Scott, also a Republican from South Carolina, wrote in his own X post, "It's time for clear and decisive action, and Iran must be held accountable for the malign activities of its proxies."
Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C., an international security think tank, told Newsweek via telephone on Sunday, "The United States is going to feel obliged to retaliate" against Iran, adding that "the level of violence keeps getting bigger."
"It worries me that this may make it harder to get a ceasefire in Gaza now, but I think a ceasefire is even more important now than it was before because that's the only thing that's going to put a lid on these attacks," Slavin said.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history. Israel subsequently launched its heaviest-ever airstrikes on Gaza, home to more than 2 million Palestinians. Israeli officials have said that about 1,200 people in Israel were killed, and some 250 hostages were taken in Hamas' attack, according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, more than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed, officials from the health ministry in Gaza said.
Israel and Hamas agreed to a temporary ceasefire in late November, which saw the release of over 100 Israeli hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israel. While a permanent ceasefire has been recommended by people all over the world, Israel has so far refused to end the fighting, with the Biden administration standing behind its ally in not calling for a ceasefire. White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said in late October that a ceasefire "only benefits Hamas."
Meanwhile, Biden has also reiterated his support for a two-state solution. In November during a press conference in San Francisco, the president said that a "real" Palestinian state must exist alongside Israel.
However, Netanyahu dismissed calls for a two-state solution, writing on X, formerly Twitter, last week, translated from Hebrew, "I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over all the territory west of Jordan - and this is contrary to a Palestinian state."
Newsweek also reached out to the U.S Department of Defense via and the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email for comment.
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Rachel Dobkin is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting on politics. Rachel joined Newsweek in ... Read more
