Pressure is on President Joe Biden to order direct strikes on Iran in response to the killing of three American soldiers in a drone attack in Jordan near the Syrian border.
Biden said on Sunday, Jan. 28 that the U.S. “shall respond” after three American troops were killed and dozens more were injured in an overnight drone strike in northeast Jordan near the Syrian border.
The Pentagon identified those killed in the attack as Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Georgia; Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Georgia; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia.
The three U.S. Army Reserve soldiers were assigned to the 718th Engineer Company, 926th Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade in Fort Moore, Georgia.
At press time, Biden may have ordered military action in response to the killing of American soldiers. Regardless of what action he takes, some will call for an even stronger response.
Biden blamed Iran-backed militias for the first U.S. fatalities after months of strikes by such groups against American forces across the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
Some Republican senators have called for the U.S. to bomb Iran in response to the drone attack in Jordan.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, in a post on X, called for the Biden administration to “strike targets of significance inside Iran.” He added: “Hit Iran now. Hit them hard.”
Biden blamed the attacks on “Iran-backed militants,” referring to Iraqi Shia militias, although the militias are known to act independently and Iran has denied involvement in the attack. But some hardliners in the Senate are pushing for a direct attack on Iran.
“The only answer to these attacks must be devastating military retaliation against Iran’s terrorist forces, both in Iran and across the Middle East. Anything less will confirm Joe Biden as a coward unworthy of being commander-in-chief,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said in a statement.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) also took to X to call for war with Iran. “Target Tehran,” he wrote.
The New York Times reported last week that Biden thought it was only a matter of time before an American soldier was killed in the region and that he might target Iran directly in response. Since mid-October, U.S. forces have come under attack in Iraq and Syria over 150 times.
Since the attack by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7, Republican hardliners as well as former and current officials in Israel have been pushing the U.S. to strike inside Iran.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Dec. 28 headlined, “The U.S. and Israel need to take Iran on directly.”
The president must respond to the attack on American soldiers but avoid widening the conflict in the Middle East.
Reprinted from The Philadelphia Tribune
About Post Author
