The remains of a rocket booster that, according to Israeli authorities critically injured a 7-year-old girl, after Iran launched drones and missiles towards Israel — Reuters NEW YORK, Apr 15 (Reuters/AP): President Joe Biden has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United States would not participate in any Israeli counter-offensive against Iran, a White House official said on Sunday.
Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday night in response to a suspected Israel attack on Iran's Syria consulate on April 1.
In a statement issued late on Saturday following the attacks, Biden said he told Netanyahu that Israel had "demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks."
Biden did not say in the statement if he and Netanyahu discussed a possible Israeli response or potential US involvement.
John Kirby, the White House's top national security spokesperson, told ABC's "This Week" program on Sunday that the United States will continue to help Israel defend itself, but does not want war with Iran.
Asked if the United States would support retaliation from Israel in Iran, Kirby said that "our commitment is ironclad" to defending Israel and to "helping Israel defend itself."
"And as the president has said many times, we don't seek a wider war in the region. We don't seek a war with Iran. And I think I will leave it at that," Kirby added.
"We don't seek escalated tensions in the region. We don't seek a wider conflict," Kirby said.
World leaders urge Israel
not to retaliate
World leaders are urging Israel not to retaliate after Iran launched an attack involving hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron told the BBC on Monday the U.K. does not support a retaliatory strike, while French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris will try to "convince Israel that we must not respond by escalating."
The Iranian attack on Saturday, less than two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria that killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consular building, marked the first time Iran has launched a direct military assault on Israel, despite decades of enmity dating back to the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran urges West to 'appreciate
restraint' towards Israel
Tehran on Monday called on Western nations to "appreciate Iran's restraint" towards Israel after it attacked its regional foe in response to a deadly strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.
"Instead of making accusations against Iran, (Western) countries should blame themselves and answer to public opinion for the measures they have taken against the... war crimes committed by Israel" in its war against Tehran-backed Hamas in Gaza, said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani.
Kanani said Western countries "should appreciate Iran's restraint in recent months".
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