WASHINGTON — The White House promised Tuesday that Iran would face “severe consequences” for its ballistic missile attacks against Israel Tuesday — but refused to detail what those might be.
The US helped Israel successfully counter the roughly 180 missiles Tehran lobbed at the Jewish state, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters, as the Pentagon noted that the American destroyers USS Cole and USS Bulkeley launched about a dozen interceptors at Iranian projectiles.
“This attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective,” Sullivan emphasized.
“We are proud of the actions that we’ve taken alongside Israel to protect and defend Israel,” he went on. “We have made clear that there will be consequences — severe consequences — for this attack, and we will work with Israel to make that the case.”
Sullivan added that Tuesday’s attack was a “significant escalation by Iran, a significant event, and it is equally significant that we were able to step up with Israel.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, Eastern time, Israeli officials had attributed one death — of a Palestinian in the West Bank city of Jericho — and two injuries to the barrage.
“We are now going to look at what the appropriate next steps are to secure, first and foremost, American interests and then to promote stability to the maximum extent possible,” said Sullivan, who demurred when pressed about what those steps might be.
“We’ve had some initial discussions with the Israelis in the aftermath of this at the military level and also at the White House-Prime Minister’s Office levels,” he said. “We’ll continue those conversations in the hours ahead.”
At the State Department, spokesman Matthew Miller said the Harris-Biden administration would “coordinate with [Israel] on what any response might be.”
“There must be consequences for Iran for this attack — we’ve made clear that there must be consequences,” he said. “I’m not going to get into what those consequences are today, but there are things on which we will be coordinating with our Israeli counterparts.”
Reports indicated Tuesday that Israel planned to launch “powerful airstrikes throughout the Middle East” in response to Iran’s attack.
This is a developing story; refresh the page for updates.