Table of Contents
Washington:
Democratic US President Joe Biden said on Thursday he would not negotiate publicly when asked whether he had urged Israel not to attack Iranian oil facilities.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Israel on Tuesday weighed its options for responding to the ballistic missile attack in Tehran. The US then said it would work with Israel to ensure Iran faces serious consequences.
Biden contributed to a rise in global oil prices earlier in the day when he said Washington was discussing attacks on Iranian oil facilities. A US official later said Washington does not believe Israel has yet decided how to respond to Iran.
Biden said on Wednesday that the US does not support any Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites.
KEY QUOTES
“I don’t negotiate in public,” Biden told reporters when asked if he was telling Israel not to attack Iranian oil facilities.
When asked if he was concerned that an Israeli attack on Iranian oil facilities would cause oil prices to rise, he said; “If a hurricane hits, prices will rise. I don’t know, who knows.”
Biden was also asked why he had not spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent days. He replied: “Because there is no action happening at the moment.”
CONTEXT
During a year of cross-border conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed nearly 2,000 people, most in the past two weeks, and displaced more than 1.2 million people there. Israel began a ground incursion into Lebanon this week, saying its aim is to defeat Hezbollah and return some 60,000 evacuated Israelis to their homes in the north.
Israel is also waging a war in Gaza, which has killed nearly 42,000 people and displaced nearly all of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents. That followed a deadly attack on Israel on October 7 by Palestinian Hamas militants.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)