The White House accused Iran Monday of “actively facilitating” attacks on US bases in the Middle East, as it expressed concern over the potential for escalation of the war between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.
“Iran continues to support Hamas and Hezbollah, and we know that Iran is closely monitoring these events and in some cases, actively facilitating these attacks and spurring on others who may want to exploit the conflict for their own good or for that of Iran,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the White House.
“We know Iran’s goal is to maintain some level of deniability here, but we’re not going to allow them to do that,” Kirby added.
Earlier on Monday, the Pentagon said that the US had not seen a direct order from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to attack US troops in the region, following a rise in attacks in Iraq and Syria by suspected Iran-backed groups.
US forces have been repeatedly targeted by missiles and drones since the Israel-Gaza conflict began on October 7 with Palestinian Hamas militants attacking southern Israel.
Iranian security officials told Reuters Iran’s strategy was for Middle East proxies like Hezbollah to pursue limited strikes on Israeli and US targets but to avoid a major escalation that would draw in Tehran, a high-wire act for the Islamic Republic.
