Working to increase economic pressure on Iran: US

US National Security Spokesman John Kirby has said that the US is working to increase economic pressure on Iran.

Kirby said it was false that Iran had warned of an attack on Israel in advance, saying only a message about attack was received from Tehran but it did not include a time, target or nature of response.

The spokesman said that while Iran’s clear intention was to do more destruction, Israel is in a very strong strategic position today.

Earlier,  following Iran’s unprecedented airstrikes on Israel, US President Joe Biden has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his country would not engage in any counterattack against Tehran.

According to a senior US administration official, the comments were conveyed in a phone call with Netanyahu in the wake of Iran’s strikes against Israel.

Biden, during the conversation over phone, cleared that the country will not involve in any offensive actions against Iran. The White House official said that Netanyahu had accepted this US stance.

The US president and his senior advisors are highly concerned that an Israeli retaliation to Iran’s airstrikes could escalate into a widespread conflict.

Biden, in a statement after the phone call, said that the

US military had deployed aircraft and ballistic missile defense destroyers in the region last week to assist Israel in foiling incoming drones and missiles from Iran, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq.

US President Biden is set to hold a call with the G7 leaders today (Sunday) to discuss and coordinate a united diplomatic response to Iran’s airstrikes.