President Biden has sparked outrage after it emerged he may not attend a ceremony honoring three US Army reservists killed in Jordan – as reports suggest he may be planning retaliatory airstrikes on Iranian assets in the Persian Gulf in the coming days.
The body of Sgt. William Rivers, 46, Spc. Brianna Moffatt, 23, and Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, all of Georgia, is expected to be flown back to Dover Air Force One in a dignified transfer, after they were killed by Iran-backed militants in an attack Saturday night on a small outpost near the Syrian border.
But when asked on Monday whether the president would attend the ceremony, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said he did not “have any [the president’s] schedule to talk to him.”
Many online found the response “disgraceful.”
“Joe Biden just killed three black military personnel,” free speech advocate Philip Anderson posted on X.
“Their black lives matter so much to Joe Biden that he won’t even bother to show up to receive their bodies, from what I’ve heard.”
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby announced on Monday that he had “nothing [the president’s] schedule to speak with” when asked if Biden would attend the dignified transfer of three soldiers killed in Jordan. Getty Images
Other users suggested that the president “has nothing on his schedule,” noting that “people in Ohio are still waiting for a visit after the train derailed” last year.
Jon Sweet, a former military intelligence officer, too said the answer is not “a good look for the president.”
Biden has vowed revenge against Iran for the deadly attack, and on Monday night US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that a response “could be multi-tiered, come in stages and be sustained over time.”
There are few details on such a response, but the president is looking at the possibility of attacking Iranian personnel in Syria and Iraq, or Iranian naval assets in the Persian Gulf, according to Politico.
He has also demanded that his advisers give him options on how to respond to the attack without dragging the US further into war in the Middle East, two administration officials told the media.
The Pentagon and the State Department have spent decades drafting a list of possible Iranian targets should war break out between the country and Israel, according to the New York Times.
That includes major drone factories and their overseas suppliers, which work to help Russia in Ukraine and provide weapons to the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The Pentagon also reportedly has plans in place for airstrikes on Iran’s missile sites and air bases, and the US has even created cyber-attack options that would disable Iran’s air defenses, communications systems and key parts of its power grid – though it’s unclear. how long can a cyber attack last?
But Iranian officials have so far denied any involvement in the attack – even after the Iran-backed Axis of Resistance claimed responsibility and said the strike was “a continuation of our approach to counter the American occupation forces in Iraq and the region.”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani on Monday said the militia “received no orders” from Iran and acted independently.
He called claims that the country was involved a “baseless accusation” designed to escalate the Israel-Hamas war.
“The responsibility for the consequences of provoking allegations against Iran rests with those who put forward those baseless allegations,” said Kanaani.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
