US concerns have been rising about the potential for escalation of the war between Israel and the Hamas terror group — which began after Hamas massacred 1,400 people in Israel on October 7, and Israel opened a campaign of airstrikes and prepared for a ground offensive intended to destroy Hamas in Gaza — although Washington has rejected calls for a ceasefire as it says that ally Israel has a right to self-defense.
“Iran continues to support Hamas and Hezbollah, and we know that Iran is closely monitoring these events and, in some cases, actively facilitating these attacks and spurring on others who may want to exploit the conflict for their own good or for that of Iran,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the White House.
“We know Iran’s goal is to maintain some level of deniability here, but we’re not going to allow them to do that,” Kirby added.
Until the Hamas onslaught and subsequent war, US President Joe Biden’s administration had hailed a period of relative calm with pro-Iranian militias in the region following quiet talks between US and Iranian officials. READ MORE