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US President Joe Biden expressed hope on Saturday that the latest Israeli airstrikes on Iran will mark the end of a period of escalation in the Middle East.
“It doesn’t appear they hit anything other than military targets.” I hope this is the end,” he told reporters in Philadelphia, noting that he spent time briefing the intelligence community earlier Saturday.
The president said he had received a warning ahead of the Israeli attacks. Biden administration officials have said the US was not directly involved in the attack but had consulted closely with Israel.
Before this weekend’s attacks, Biden had “encouraged” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to design a retaliatory attack on Iran that would “deter future attacks on Israel,” a senior US administration official said.
American officials had expected Israel will retaliate against Iran some time before November 5, a timeline that would bring the growing volatility in the Middle East into full public view within days of the US presidential election.
What ultimately was a very calculated Israeli response shows that the The US can still influence Israel’s actions in the region “whenever she wants,” geopolitical analyst HA Hellyer told CNN.
“I think the US involvement in this regard has been significant, but frankly it also shows that when the US wants to push Israel to change its behavior, it can do that too,” he continued. “And so far what we’ve seen is really rampant for Israel in terms of the war in Gaza – and that kind of pressure (might) be welcomed there.”
CNN’s Catherine Nicholls contributed to this report.