Wider War Warning Issued by Top White House Adviser
The United States sees an ‘elevated risk’ of a wider war brewing.
A top White House national security adviser on Sunday said the United States sees an “elevated risk” of the Israel–Hamas war widening into a regional conflict.
“We are vigilant, because we are seeing elevated threats against our forces throughout the region and an elevated risk of this conflict spreading to other parts of the region. We are doing everything in our power to deter and prevent that,” U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
It comes as the United States carried out multiple airstrikes against assets in Syria, reportedly targeting Iran-backed militia groups. Earlier this month, U.S. troops came under attack in both Iraq and Syria, although officials have not disclosed who was behind the attacks.
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“We, of course, are taking every measure necessary to protect our forces, to increase our vigilance and to work with other countries in the region to try to keep this conflict that is currently in Israel and Gaza from spinning out into a regional conflict,” Mr. Sullivan said. “But the risk is real, and therefore, vigilance is high, and the steps that we are taking to deter that and prevent that are serious, systematic and ongoing.”
Also Sunday, Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, told CNN that Iran doesn’t want the conflict to spread elsewhere in the Middle East. “We don’t want this war to spread out,” he said.
Mr. Amirabdollahian on Sunday also dismissed claims directly connecting Iran to the attacks as “baseless,” adding, “We always had political media and international support for Palestine. We have never denied this.”
“This is the truth, but in relation to this operation called the Al Aqsa Storm, there was no connection to that data between Iran and this Hamas operation, not my government nor part of my country,” he added.
U.S. and coalition troops have been attacked at least 19 times in Iraq and in Syria by Iran-backed forces in the past week. However, Mr. Amirabdollahian said linking Iran to any attack in the region, if U.S. interests are targeted, without providing proof, is “totally wrong.”
