President Joe Biden announced he decided how the United States would respond to a deadly Iraqi militia drone strike on Tuesday, but as of Thursday morning, it hasn’t taken place.
The U.S. has accused the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iranian-backed militias, of carrying out Sunday’s attack that targeted a small U.S. base in northeast Jordan known as Tower 22. Three service members were killed in the attack, and dozens of U.S. forces were injured as well.
Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin vowed to respond to the strike in their first statements on the attack on Sunday, but the timing of their retaliation has raised questions about whether the delay will allow for possible top targets to go into hiding.
“In terms of telegraphing about strikes and whether or not people leave or have left, you know, I won’t speculate on any of that. I would just tell you that, you know, we will have a multitiered response,” Austin said on Thursday. “And, again, we have the ability to respond a number of times depending on what the situation is.”
He is not the first official to indicate the U.S. response may include multiple aspects over a period of days, though CBS News reported that weather will play a role in the timing of the response.
U.S. officials have pointed the finger of responsibility at Iran, which aids and supports the militias that have carried out more than 165 attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan since mid-October. Sunday’s strike, which affected the sleeping quarters at Tower 22, was the first time U.S. forces were killed in one of these attacks.
Despite the blame being placed on Tehran, carrying out strikes within Iranian borders would be a significant escalation the U.S. has largely indicated it wants to avoid. The Iranian military has personnel and facilities in Iraq and Syria.
The U.S. has targeted those facilities in previous strikes targeting the militias.
“I think, at this point, we should — it’s time to take away even more capability than we’ve taken,” the secretary continued. “We’ve not described what our response is going to be, but we look to hold the people that are responsible for this accountable. And we also look to make sure that we continue to take away capability from them as we go forward.”
These militias have carried out three attacks since the deadly one on Sunday, though they have since indicated their intent to stop attacking U.S. forces, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
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Austin was speaking at a press conference for the first time since news broke that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and subsequently hospitalized, keeping the White House, Congress, and the public in the dark for several days.
“I never directed anyone” to hide the January hospitalization from the White House, he said on Thursday. “To answer your question on whether or not I directed my staff to conceal my hospitalization from anyone else, the answer’s no.”
