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National security adviser Jake Sullivan declined to rule out U.S. strikes inside Iran on Sunday, while still insisting President Biden is “not looking to get into a war” in the Middle East.
Sullivan appeared on Sunday programs on CNN, ABC and NBC days after the United States and the United Kingdom began launching a massive airstrike campaign against Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Friday as part of retaliation for the killing of three U.S. service members and the injuring of more than 40 others in Jordan along the Syrian border.
“The president has approached this with a straightforward principle, which is that the United States will step up and respond when our forces are attacked. And the United States also is not looking for a wider war in the Middle East. We are not looking to take the United States to war. So we are going to continue to pursue a policy that goes down both of those lines simultaneously, that responds with force and clarity, as we did on Friday night, but also that continues to hew to an approach that does not get the United States pulled into a war, that we have seen too frequently in the Middle East,” Sullivan told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”
Sullivan vowed “further action,” but said he would refrain from telegraphing the United States’ punches in the conflict.
US AND BRITAIN CARRYING OUT NEW AIRSTRIKES AGAINST HOUTHIS
National security adviser Jake Sullivan addresses the World Economic Forum in Davos, on Jan. 16, 2024. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
“Inside Iran? Would you rule that out at this point?” Bash asked.
“Look, sitting on a national TV program, I’m not going to rule in and rule out any activity anywhere. What I am going to say is that the president will do what he thinks needs to be done and again, reinforce the point that he’s going to defend our forces, and also that he is not looking to get into a war,” Sullivan said.
Bash noted Republican criticism that the Biden administration should have responded…
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