Biden warns Iran that US ‘won’t be able to hold Israel back’ if Islamic Republic attacks again

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden recently issued a rare direct warning to Iran, stating that there could be severe consequences if the country conducts another attack on Israel.

The Biden administration's warning comes amid Iran's threats of a “crushing response” to Israel’s retaliatory strike on military targets on Oct. 25, which primarily focused on striking air defense and ballistic missile sites. 

A U.S. official told Axios News correspondent Barak Ravid, “We told the Iranians: We won't be able to hold Israel back, and we won't be able to make sure that the next attack will be calibrated and targeted as the previous one.” 

After Iran launched a large barrage of around 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1, the U.S. encouraged Israel to conduct a targeted and limited strike, avoiding Iran’s nuclear or oil production sites, so as not to inflame a larger, direct confrontation between the two nations. 

Although limited in scope, the Israeli strike seems to have specifically targeted key air defense sites to facilitate future attacks on other critical locations by the Israel Air Force (IAF).

The U.S. warning to Tehran may indicate that the Biden administration acknowledges it will have no leverage to demand restraint if Iran attacks Israel again."

On Saturday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a group of Tehran University students that the U.S. and Israel “will definitely receive a crushing response” to the targeted strikes of Oct. 25. 

"The enemies, whether it be the Zionist regime or the United States will certainly receive a crushing response for what they do against Iran and the Resistance Front," Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Saturday.

"Resistance Front," is a term used by Tehran to describe… pic.twitter.com/1Rnic2CK3E

— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) November 2, 2024

Khamenei also posted the threat to his reactivated Hebrew 𝕏 account on Saturday.

"The USA and the Zionist regime will receive a crushing response to what they are doing against Iran and against the Front," Khamenei wrote in Hebrew.

The U.S. denied taking a direct part in those strikes, but it offered to help defend Israel in the event of Iran retaliating.

In an interview last week, Esmaeil Kowsari, a member of the Iranian Parliament and the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told the Fars news agency that the regime would respond to the Israeli strike. 

“The failure as the Zionists conducted their operation still does not mean that Iran will not respond. The Zionist regime should pay for the violation of territorial integrity," Kowsari said. 

On Saturday, Kowsari told Iranian media that the government is already finalizing its response.

"The details of the response have been submitted to military leaders, who will determine the timing of the retaliation," Kowsari said according to the Tehran Times.

Israeli officials have also warned Iran recently. IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi told IAF aircrews, “If Iran makes the mistake and launches another barrage of missiles at Israel, we will once again know how to reach Iran, reach even with capabilities that we did not use this time, and hit very, very hard both the capabilities and places that we spared this time.” 

At the same time, the U.S. appears to be preparing for a possible escalation. Over the weekend, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the deployment of B-52 bombers to the Middle East.