Austin to Gallant: US 'well-postured'

(JNS) — U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant following the “outrageous act of aggression by Iran,” reaffirming that the United States is ready to aid its friends and partners in the region. 

America is “well-postured to defend U.S. personnel, allies, and partners in the face of threats from Iran and Iran-backed terrorist organizations and is determined to prevent any actor from exploiting tensions or expanding the conflict in the region,” said Austin, according to the U.S. Defense Department.

The Islamic Republic fired some 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday evening. American forces helped shoot down some of them.

“Today, Iran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles towards targets in Israel,” U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told press on Tuesday. “U.S. naval destroyers joined Israeli air-defense units in firing interceptors to shoot down inbound missiles,” he said.

In an earlier conversation on Tuesday, when an Iranian attack was deemed imminent, Austin and Gallant discussed the “severe consequences” for Iran if it chose to launch a direct military attack on Israel.

Sullivan repeated that warning in his press briefing. “We have made clear that there will be consequences, severe consequences, for this attack,” he said.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that the response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel “remains to be seen.” 

“That’s an active discussion right now,” he said. “We gotta get all the data straight.”

At a Security Cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear there would be an Israeli response.

“This evening, Iran made a big mistake—and it will pay for it. The regime in Tehran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and to exact a price from our enemies,” he said.

“We will keep to the rule we have determined: Whoever attacks us, we attack them,” he added.

Following reports that the United States received forewarning from Iran about an imminent attack earlier in the day, the State Department issued a denial. 

“That is absolutely false,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. “We had no kind of warning from the government of Iran that they were going to launch such an attack.”

Tuesday’s attack was the second launched against Israel directly from Iran. In April, in its first-ever direct attack on Israeli territory, Iran launched some 300 missiles and drones at the Jewish state, the vast majority of which were shot down in a multinational effort. 

Iran launched the attack in retaliation for an April 1 strike that killed a top Iranian general in Damascus.

Israel is currently involved in a limited ground invasion in Lebanon. Austin told Gallant on Monday that the United States supports the incursion.

According to the Pentagon, the two “agreed on the necessity of dismantling attack infrastructure along the border to ensure that Lebanese [Hezbollah] cannot conduct October 7-style attacks on Israel’s northern communities.”