By Trevor Hunnicutt and Jasper Ward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he does not support strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites in response to its missile attack against Israel.
“We’ll be discussing with the Israelis what they’re going to do, but all seven of us (G7 nations) agree that they have a right to respond but they should respond proportionally,” Biden told reporters before boarding Air Force One.
Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday in a move that Biden previously described as “ineffective.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised that Iran would pay for the attack.
Some analysts said Israel’s response would likely be sharper this time, suggesting it could target Iran’s nuclear or oil facilities.
Biden told reporters that there would be more sanctions imposed on Iran and said he would speak soon with Netanyahu.
“Obviously, Iran is way off course,” he said.
(This story has been corrected to fix the quote to remove extraneous words ‘but they should respond,’ in paragraph 2)
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Jasper Ward; Editing by Caitlin Webber)
