As Iran launched a massive barrage of ballistic missiles into Israel on Tuesday, President Biden's hopes of ending the war in Gaza before leaving office and holding off a wider regional war in the Middle East seemed dimmer than ever. The attack from Iran came after Israel had expanded its war against Iran’s proxies in the region, launching a brazen series of assaults to dismantle Hezbollah’s leadership on its northern border and hitting Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Before I begin, I wanted to say a few words about Iran's missile attack on Israel today.
00:14At my direction, the United States military actively supported the defense of Israel,
00:19and we're still assessing the impact.
00:21But based on what we know now, the attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective.
00:27And this is testament to Israeli military capability and U.S. military.
00:31I'm also a testament to intensive planning between the United States and Israel to anticipate
00:37and defend against the brazen attack we expected.
00:41Make no mistake, the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel.
00:47And I just got up and spent the morning and part of the afternoon in the Situation Room
00:52and meeting with my whole national security team and consulting with the Israelis indirectly
00:58because, I mean, in terms of their impact on us.
01:02And the national security team has been, as I said, in constant contact with Israeli officials
01:07and their counterparts and is going to continue to be brought to me throughout the day.
01:13We're still allowed to share updates and when we get them and we will do that, got to get
01:19all the data straight.
01:20We've been in constant contact with the Israeli government and our counterparts and that remains
01:26to be seen.
01:27What is your message to Prime Minister Netanyahu and have you spoken with him today?
01:31I haven't spoken with him.
01:33We have spoken with all his people and I'll be talking to him and my message will depend
01:37on what we find finally conclude is needed.
01:41What do you believe the consequences for Iran should be?
01:44That remains to be seen.