U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel \u201csooner, rather than later\u201d and warned Tehran not to proceed.
\nAsked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden said simply, \u201cDon\u2019t,\u201d and he underscored Washington\u2019s commitment to defend Israel.
\n\u201cWe are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,\u201d he said.
\nIsrael braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of retaliation for an attack on Iran\u2019s embassy compound last week in Damascus that killed a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps\u2019 overseas Quds Force and six other officers.
\nIsrael did not claim responsibility for the airstrike on April 1. But Iran\u2019s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Israel \u201cmust be punished and shall be\u201d for an operation he said was equivalent to an attack on Iranian soil.
\nBiden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack by Iran could come \u201csooner, rather than later.\u201d He spoke to reporters at the White House after a virtual speech to a civil rights conference.
\nThe U.S. rushed warships into position to protect Israel and American forces in the region, hoping to head off a direct attack from Iran on Israel that could come as soon as Friday or Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
\nThe moves by the U.S. that are part of an effort to avoid a wider conflict in the Middle East came after a warning from a person familiar with the matter about the timing and location of the potential Iranian attack, the newspaper said.
\nHowever, a person briefed by the Iranian leadership said that while plans to attack are being discussed, no final decision has been made, the Journal said.
\nCountries including India, France, Poland and Russia have warned their citizens against travel to the region, already on edge over the war in Gaza, now in its seventh month. Germany on Friday called on its citizens to leave Iran.
\nEarlier, White House spokesperson John Kirby said the reportedly imminent attack by Iran on Israel was a real and viable threat, but gave no details about any possible timing.
\nKirby said the United States was looking at its own force posture in the region in light of Tehran\u2019s threat and was watching the situation very closely.
\n(Reuters)conflict. Iran, Israel, attack<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
U.S. President Joe Biden warned Iran not to attack Israel, emphasizing Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. Israel prepared for a possible attack by Iran or its proxies following an airstrike in Damascus that killed an Iranian commander. The U.S. rushed warships into position to protect Israel and American forces in the region amid concerns of a potential Iranian attack. Other countries warned their citizens against travel to the region, and the U.S. was monitoring the situation closely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":8027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[383,492,2577,2542,2172,499,145,576,937,146,6076,299,756,4442,69,5330,4371,981,4843,1670,5515,1812,19,1358,5979,1846,1182,3523,544,173,255,293,6024,5129,3519,457,165,18],"class_list":["post-8026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-attack","tag-biden","tag-concerns","tag-conference","tag-embassy","tag-france","tag-gaza","tag-germany","tag-india","tag-iran","tag-iranian-attack","tag-israel","tag-joe-biden","tag-message","tag-middle-east","tag-officers","tag-operation","tag-poland","tag-president","tag-president-joe-biden","tag-responsibility","tag-rights","tag-russia","tag-support","tag-tehran","tag-threat","tag-travel","tag-u-s-president","tag-united-states","tag-usa","tag-wall-street","tag-war","tag-war-in-gaza","tag-warning","tag-washington","tag-white","tag-white-house","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n