“Take the win,” Biden told the prime minister, The New York Times reported, warning him not to escalate the situation, after an international response coordinated by the US shot down 99% of the some 300 projectiles launched at Israel from Iranian territory.
The attack came in response to the assassination of several Iranian generals, including its top commander in Syria, in a Damascus airstrike several weeks earlier that was widely blamed on Israel.
The report invoked the April episode as an example of Biden’s purported mental sharpness, citing White House officials who told of the president being “in the Situation Room for hours, bracing for the attack.”
The president was updated on the interception effort in real time, the report said, and “peppered leaders with questions throughout the response.” His call to Netanyahu to persuade him not to escalate was conducted “without reading from a script or extensive notes,” the report said.
When Netanyahu pushed back on Biden’s words, citing the need to deter future attacks, the president told him, “You do this, and I’m out,” the report said. READ MORE
