Biden warns Israel against Iran oil strikes as war fears mount

AFP , Saturday 5 Oct 2024

US President Joe Biden on Friday advised Israel against striking Iran's oil facilities, saying he was trying to rally the world to avoid the escalating prospect of all-out war in the Middle East.

Biden
US President Joe Biden speaks during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on October 4, 2024. AFP

 

But his predecessor Donald Trump, currently campaigning for another term in power, went so far as to suggest Israel should "hit" the Islamic republic's nuclear sites.

Making a surprise first appearance in the White House briefing room, Biden said that Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu "should remember" US support for Israel when deciding on next steps.

"If I were in their shoes, I'd be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields," Biden told reporters, when asked about his comments a day earlier that Washington was discussing the possibility of such strikes with its ally.

Biden added that the Israelis "have not concluded how they're, what they're going to do" in response for a ballistic missile retaliatory attack by Iran on Israel on Tuesday.

The price of oil had jumped after Biden's remarks Thursday.

Any long-term rise could be damaging for US Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democrat confronts Republican Trump in a November 5 election where the cost of living is a major issue.

Meanwhile Trump, campaigning in North Carolina, offered a far more provocative view of what he thinks a response to Iran should be, referencing a question posed to Biden this week about the possibility of Israel targeting Iran's nuclear program.

"They asked him, 'what do you think about Iran, would you hit Iran?' And he goes, 'As long as they don't hit the nuclear stuff.' That's the thing you want to hit, right?" Trump told a town hall style event in Fayetteville, near a major US military base.

Biden "got that one wrong," Trump said.

"When they asked him that question, the answer should have been, hit the nuclear first, and worry about the rest later," Trump added.

Trump has spoken little about the recent escalation in tensions in the Middle East. But he issued a scathing statement this week, holding Biden and Harris responsible for the crisis.

'Wait to see'
 

Biden's appearance at the famed briefing room podium was not announced in advance, taking reporters by surprise.

It comes at a tense time as he prepares to leave office with the Middle East situation boiling over and political criticism at home over his handling of a recent hurricane that struck the US southeast.

Biden said he was doing his best to avoid a full-scale conflagration in the Middle East, where Israel is bombing Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Yemen in its multi-front assault, a year after it started its genocidal war on Gaza.

"The main thing we can do is try to rally the rest of the world and our allies into participating... to tamp this down," he told reporters.

Tehran allies groups have maintained they would halt all attacks on Israel as soon as a ceasefire is established in Israel's war on Gaza.

Netanyahu however continues to insert roadblocks toward any potential plan and has repeatedly ignored Biden's calls for restraint on Lebanon, and in its Gaza assault which has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, mostly children and women.

Biden deflected a question on whether he believed Netanyahu was hanging back on signing a Middle East peace deal in a bid to influence the US presidential election.

"No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None, none, none. And I think Bibi should remember that," Biden said.

"And whether he's trying to influence the election, I don't know, but I'm not counting on that."

Biden said he had still not spoken to Netanyahu since the Iranian retaliation, which involved some 200 missiles, but added their teams were in "constant contact."

"They're not going to make a decision immediately, and so we're going to wait to see when they want to talk," the US leader added.

Iran said its attack was in retaliation for the assassinations, including those of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah killed in an Israeli strike on Lebanon on 27 September, along with an Iranian Revolutionary Guards general and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, in Teheran on July 31.

Hezbollah has been exchanging rocket fire with Israel since October in solidarity with Palestinians suffering under Israel's war on Gaza.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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