Biden says he opposes Israel destroying Iran’s nuclear weapons sites as tensions grow: ‘Answer is no’

( NYPost )

President Biden said Wednesday that he does not support any pre-emptive Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites as clashes — both direct and through proxies — escalate between the two countries.

“The answer is no,” the 81-year-old retiring president told reporters under the wing of Air Force One as he departed Washington for a trip to the Carolinas to tour damage caused by Hurricane Helene.

“We’ll be discussing with the Israelis what they are going to do,” added Biden, who spoke Wednesday morning with fellow leaders of the Group of 7 nations.

“All seven of us agree that they have a right to respond, but they should respond proportionately.”

Iran on Tuesday directly attacked Israel for a second time this year — launching nearly 200 rockets that did little damage and caused no known Israeli deaths and raising the prospect of an Israeli strike to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, which it is believed to be within grasp of doing.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan vowed Tuesday that “there will be consequences” for the barrage — after a similar Iranian attack in April — but would not commit to tightening the enforcement of sanctions against Iranian oil exports, despite bipartisan calls from Congress to do so.

Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior adviser Richard Goldberg told The Post that the US should increase missile-defense contributions to Israel and provide “all all logistical and intelligence support it needs to do severe damage to Iran’s most lethal threats: its missile arsenal, its nuclear infrastructure and [Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps] command and control.”

“We should also not hesitate to use our own stand-off capabilities against the regime directly in response to any attack on US interests by its proxies, including the Houthis [in Yemen], thus ensuring a strategic victory for both our countries,” said Goldberg, whose think tank opposed the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran.

“And wouldn’t it be nice to do the no-brainer stuff too like ending sanctions relief for Iran and triggering the snapback of UN sanctions, too?” he added.

Tehran’s volley followed Israel’s stunning assassination Friday of longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, after the Jewish state wiped out much of the Iran-backed Lebanese group’s leadership with a series of attacks including electronic pager explosions.

Nasrallah was one of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s closest collaborators in regional power struggles since the Trump administration assassinated Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani in January 2020.

Goldberg suggested Wednesday that Khamenei may be growing more desperate to hold onto power — something Israel can use to its advantage.

“[Khamenei] is now, I think, shooting missiles to protect the regime, believing it’s his only hope of showing strength,” he said. “Iran now actually fears for the regime’s survival. They now perceive that Israel has changed its strategy: it’s back on offense, it’s moving toward the regime itself … [and its] nuclear program.”

And in the long term, Israel is considering “how to destabilize that regime and help the Iranian people take it back,” he said.

The fate of Iran’s nuclear program was the topic of the first question at Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate — with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for No. 2, declining to say if he would support a hypothetical Israeli strike and Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance saying he would support whatever Israel decides.

It’s unclear if the Israeli government will listen to Biden’s latest policy preference — after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ignored Biden’s demand Monday that he not authorize incursions into southern Lebanon to disable Hezbollah sites.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Biden’s warning against an invasion of Lebanon was viewed in Israel “as almost pro forma, given that there was no threat nor was there any presentation of an imminent diplomatic solution.”

As Israel now faces off directly against Iran, Goldberg said the US should “not put pressure on Israel to be restrained in any way.”

“Provide the intelligence [and] logistics support necessary for the Israelis to conduct the strike they think is prudent, appropriate [and] necessary at this time, making sure that they continue their strategy of how to strangle the Islamic Republic, remove the biggest threats that we mutually face,” he said. “That’s the nuclear program and the missile programs.”