President Joe Biden says Israel has not concluded response to Iran's missile strike
4 October 2024, 20:27 | Updated: 4 October 2024, 20:48
Joe Biden has said sanctions on Iran are “under consideration” after it launched a large-scale ballistic missile attack on Israel on Tuesday night.
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Speaking at a news conference, the US President also said Israel has not concluded a response to the strike that involved more than 180 missiles.
Iran launched the attack after the IDF moved ground troops into Lebanon to fight Hezbollah militants, an Iranian client group.
After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran "will pay a heavy price” following Tuesday's missile launch, Biden said Israel has not yet decided how it will respond.
He said: "I'm assuming when they make their assessment, how they're going to respond, we will then have a discussion. (Israel) is not going to make a decision immediately.”
Biden added that he would think about "other alternatives" to "striking" Iranian oil fields if he were in Israel's shoes.
When asked what the US is doing to prevent an all-out war, He said: "There's a lot we are doing.
“The main thing we can do is try to rally the rest of the world and our allies into participating, like the French are, and Lebanon and other places, to tamp this down.”
He added that the US is considering imposing sanctions on Iran.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Friday the toll on civilians in Lebanon from Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah is “totally unacceptable”.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon as a result of the conflict in the past year, most of them in the past two weeks, according to the Lebanese government.
It has not broken down the overall figure to detail the numbers of civilians and Hezbollah fighters killed but has accused Israel of targeting civilians, pointing to the dozens of women and children killed.
Biden said while Israel has "every right to respond… the fact is that they have to be very much more careful about dealing with civilian casualties".
This comes after Iran's supreme leader has said the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel were a 'legitimate' act as he addressed Tehran worshipers in a rare sermon.
Holding a rifle by his side for his first public sermon in five years, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed to the congregation at the Mosalla mosque on Friday that the attacks were justified because they were "logical and legal".
He said the onslaught was committed in self-defence against an oppressor and claimed the principle was recognised under international law.
Khamenei also sought to justify Iran's latest missile attack on Israel, claiming: "The move taken by our armed forces was the least punishment in the face of the crimes of the Zionist regime."
Iran fires rockets into Israel
He also referred to Israel as a "bloodthirsty... rabid dog" and said the country "will not last long".
"The brilliant action of our armed forces a couple of nights ago was completely legal and legitimate', he told the crowd.
Speaking in Arabic, Khamenei also praised Lebanese militant group Hezbollah's current conflict with Israel as a "vital service to the region".
Khamenei had declared a period of public mourning in Iran for Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah after he was killed in an Israeli strike last Wednesday.
The Iranian leader - who was thought to be close with Nasrallah - said the Hezbollah chief's death was "not a small matter".
Khamenei last led a public Friday prayers in January 2020 after Iran fired missiles at a US military base in Iraq in retaliation for a strike that killed the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad.
Hundreds of people in Tehran on Thursday were seen waving Hezbollah and Iran flags outside the former US embassy building in capital.
It comes as the G7 yesterday called for a ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza, and called Iran's strikes on Israel a "serious threat to regional stability" in the Middle East.
The leaders of the G7 - comprised of the US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Canada and Italy - said: "We unequivocally reiterate our commitment to the security of Israel.
"Iran’s seriously destabilizing actions throughout the Middle East through terrorist proxies and armed groups—including the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Hamas— as well as Iran-aligned militia groups in Iraq, must stop.
"Yesterday we discussed coordinated efforts and actions to avoid escalation in the area."
They added in a statement that the "cycle of attacks and retaliation... "is in no one’s interest."
The G7 condemned the Iranian strikes on Wednesday and said they would "work jointly to promote a reduction in regional tensions".
The UK and allies continued to urge Israel and its adversaries to pull back from the brink of all-out war in the Middle East.
Israel is still considering how to retaliate to Iran's ballistic missile barrage earlier this week. Meanwhile Israel and Hezbollah continue to fight in Lebanon.
The IDF said it killed 15 Hezbollah militants on Thursday, after eight of its own soldiers were killed on Wednesday.
Israel has warned people living in Lebanon near the border with Israel to evacuate - including people living in the city of Nabatieh, which has a population of between 60,000 and 100,000.
