American troops were still in their sleeping quarters when the drone struck with little to no warning, the BBC’s US partner CBS reports.
The US says it will take “all necessary actions” to protect troops after a drone attack on a base in Jordan killed three American soldiers, with President Joe Biden blaming Iran-backed militants.
American troops were still in their sleeping quarters when the drone struck with little to no warning, the BBC’s US partner CBS reports.
The drone arrived at the same time as a returning US drone – and as a result elements of the defence system were turned off, an official says.
Iran denies that it was behind the attack, calling the accusations “baseless” and saying it was “not involved in the decision making of resistance groups”.
An umbrella group for Iran-backed militia calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq yesterday said it was responsible for the attack.
It is the first time US soldiers have been killed by strikes in the region after Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel sparked the war in Gaza.
President Biden has said the US will respond at a time and place of its choosing – but what that looks like will be carefully calculated.
In the last few months Washington and Tehran have repeatedly said they don’t want to escalate tensions in the region.
However there is pressure on Biden’s administration to react forcefully.
Some politicians are calling for strikes against Iranian targets whilst others in the Republican Party want Biden to go further and hit Iran directly.
The president who is facing a tough re-election race potentially against Donald Trump is now looking at a difficult decision as an incumbent leader: take possible military action to punish the attackers but avoid triggering a wider war.
In a few moments, we’ll hear the White House’s daily press briefing – with the questions likely to focus on this drone attack.
