According to the official, Israel should "take the win" of its successful interception of 99% of the drones and missiles launched by Iran rather than retaliate.
Separately, National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby was interviewed on NBC's 'Meet the Press' program. When asked if the Iranian attack could or has led to a wider regional war, he responded, "I don't think there's any reason that it needs to."
"The President doesn't believe that it needs to move in that direction whatsoever," he continued. "What Israel demonstrated last night was an incredible ability to defend itself. Just their own military superiority was quite remarkable yesterday."
He added, "Israel demonstrated again that they're not standing alone, that they have friends."
"The President's been clear: We don't want to see this escalate, we're not looking for a wider war with Iran," he said.
Biden spoke to Netanyahu late on Saturday night, after Iran launched an attack on Israel involving hundreds of drones and missiles.
In a statement following the call, Biden wrote, “Earlier today, Iran—and its proxies operating out of Yemen, Syria and Iraq—launched an unprecedented air attack against military facilities in Israel. I condemn these attacks in the strongest possible terms.”
“At my direction, to support the defense of Israel, the US military moved aircraft and ballistic missile defense destroyers to the region over the course of the past week. Thanks to these deployments and the extraordinary skill of our servicemembers, we helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles,” he added.
“I’ve just spoken with Prime Minister Netanyahu to reaffirm America’s ironclad commitment to the security of Israel. I told him that Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks – sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel,” said Biden.
“Tomorrow, I will convene my fellow G7 leaders to coordinate a united diplomatic response to Iran’s brazen attack. My team will engage with their counterparts across the region. And we will stay in close touch with Israel’s leaders. And while we have not seen attacks on our forces or facilities today, we will remain vigilant to all threats and will not hesitate to take all necessary action to protect our people,” he concluded.
This morning, Axios reported that US sources said that President Biden told Prime Minister Netanyahu during their conversation overnight Saturday that he opposes any Israeli attack on Iran and will not take part in it.
