U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, held a “lengthy and important conversation with the president and our national security team, and of course, we maintain the importance of supporting Israel’s right to defend itself,” Harris said, per the pool report.
“We are also very adamant that we must see de-escalation in the region going forward, and that will be our focus,” Harris said, per the pool. “We’ve been very clear with everyone in the region, and in fact, that’s why Tony Blinken was there for several days this week, that we want to work toward ending this war. This war must end.”
Harris added that “we must get the hostages out and work toward a two-state solution, and we do believe strongly that as it relates to Lebanon and the region, that part of the strength of our work is the diplomatic work we will do to reach that end.”
Asked what the Biden administration is hearing from Arab allies about Israeli strikes in Iran, Harris said that “it is a consensus among leaders in the region, and certainly it is the strong perspective of the United States, that there must be the escalation, and not an escalation of activities in that region,” per the pool.
Earlier in the day, U.S. President Joe Biden said, of Israel’s strikes on Iran, that he “was on with the intelligence community for the last half hour,” per the pool report. “It looks like they didn’t hit anything other than military targets. I hope that this is the end.”
Biden added that Israel did notify him prior to the strikes.
“Asked if he was concerned about Trump doing diplomacy, speaking to Bibi while not representing the United States, he said ‘I’m not surprised,'” per the pool report.
Shortly before midnight on Friday night, a senior U.S. official told reporters on background that the United States “was not a participant” in Israel’s “precision airstrikes against multiple military targets across Iran and outside populated areas.”
“The president and his national security team, of course, worked with the Israelis over recent weeks to encourage Israel to conduct a response that was targeted and proportional with low risk of civilian harm, and that appears to have been precisely what transpired this evening,” the senior U.S. official said.
“Should Iran choose to respond, we are fully prepared to once again defend against any attack. We recently deployed a THAAD battery, which is a ballistic missile defense system, to Israel, and we have worked to strengthen Israel’s air defense systems in the run-up to tonight’s response,” the senior U.S. official said. “President Biden and Vice President Harris have demonstrated clearly that we will always help defend Israel and secure its people and territory from Iran and its proxy terrorist groups.”
If Tehran responds again to Israel, “we will be ready, and there will be consequences for Iran once again. However, we do not want to see that happen,” the senior U.S. official said. “This should be the end of this direct exchange of fire between Israel and Iran. Israel has made clear to the world that its response is now complete.”