Biden vows to respond to drone attack on U.S. base in Jordan

Read the Full Transcript

• Geoff Bennett:

  The White House says President Biden is considering options to strike back against the Iran-backed militia that killed three American soldiers in Jordan yesterday.

  From Yemen, to Iraq, to Syria, and now Jordan, American forces are engaging Iranian-supported groups across the region.

  Nick Schifrin starts our coverage.

• Nick Schifrin:

  It is in a remote desert corner at the intersection of three countries, and the attack on Tower 22 today led to a U.S. vow of revenge.

  Lloyd Austin, U.S. Secretary of Defense: The president and I will not tolerate attack on U.S. forces, and we will take all necessary actions to defend the U.S. and our troops.

  Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State: We will respond decisively to any aggression, and we will hold responsible the people who attacked our troops.

• Nick Schifrin:

  U.S. military and defense officials say an Iranian-backed militia fired a single explosive drone that landed in soldiers' barracks and got through the base's air defense because it was misidentified as a U.S. drone.

  The three soldiers killed were U.S. Army Reservist Sergeant William Rivers, Specialist Kennedy Sanders, and Specialist Breonna Moffett. Bases in Iraq and Syria have been targeted repeatedly since mid-October, but this weekend's was the first in Jordan. Tower 22 is located on the Jordan side of a remote demilitarized zone where Jordan, Iraq and Syria meet.

  To the north is the U.S. Al-Tanf garrison in Syria. It relies on Tower 22 for logistics and other support. For years, Al-Tanf has functioned as a launching point for special forces combating ISIS militants and monitors a weapon shipping route along a highway leading into Baghdad. The base has been the target of previous strikes by Iranian-backed militias.

  It's also right next to the vast Rukban refugee camp. At its peak, more than 100,000 internally displaced Syrians were crowded there, seeking refuge from ISIS, but blocked by Jordan from crossing the border.

• John Kirby, NSC Coordinator For Strategic Communications:

  We do not seek another war. We do not seek to escalate.

• Nick Schifrin:

  At the White House today, national security spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. will respond in a way that does not escalate, but acknowledges Iran's role.

• John Kirby:

  We will do that on our schedule in our time, and we will do it in the manner of the president's choosing as commander in chief. We will also do it fully cognizant of the fact that these groups, backed by Tehran, have just taken the lives of American troops.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Iran's Foreign Ministry today said militia groups act on their own.

• Nasser Kanaani, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman (through interpreter):

  The Islamic Republic of Iran does not interfere in the decisions of the resistance groups on how to support the Palestinian nation or defend themselves and their people against any aggression and occupation.

• Geoff Bennett:

  And Nick Schifrin joins us now.

  So, Nick, what is the administration weighing as it considers its response?

• Nick Schifrin:

  U.S. officials obviously won't telegraph the punch, as they put it.

  But, until this weekend, they have been very selective. In Iraq and Syria, they have responded to the 150-plus attacks before this weekend by going after things like weapons storage facilities, missiles, drones, factories. They have tried to calibrate it, so they don't actually kill members of the militia, so as, in their words, not to escalate.

  Same in Yemen. The targets over about 10 rounds of U.S. and U.K. strikes have again been missiles and drones that the Houthis have been using to fire at ships and not trying to attack Houthi command-and-control with senior Houthi leadership.

  But this is a different size of attack, as you said and as the package said, and the U.S. response is likely to be larger. And there are critics of the administration out today saying it must be much larger. We heard from Senator Roger Wicker, the ranking member in the Senate Armed Services Committee. He wants to see a strike directly at — quote — "Iranian targets" and its leadership.

  Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Republican, criticized President Biden, saying his fear of escalation has morphed into doctrine of appeasement. So there is this argument that says the administration must go a lot farther, but the administration officials I talk to say exactly you heard just John Kirby say: Look, we do not want this to turn into a regional war. Therefore, we will continue to try and calibrate our response so it doesn't escalate further.

• Geoff Bennett:

  On another matter, Nick, we know that the CIA director, Bill Burns, met over the weekend with his Israeli and Egyptian counterparts in a meeting that was mediated by Qatar. What came of that meeting?

  They were talking about a hostage deal.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Right, right.

  So this is about releasing hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for stopping the war, at least temporarily. And that group that you just laid out has been an effective one. They're the ones who brought about the November cease-fire that led to the release of more than 100 hostages. These are four men who have met many times before.

  There you see Bill Burns on the left, the Qatari prime minister, and the Israeli and Egyptian intelligence chiefs. Now — and they believe that they have made progress. And the progress is that they have an outline that they believe Israel accepts that would allow for the release of women and children, and in exchange for a certain amount of time for a cease-fire.

  Officials won't give the exact details. And then that round would essentially lead to a second round of more releases. And then the final round would be Israeli soldiers and dead bodies.

  And, again, what U.S. officials hope is that, if they can make progress on that deal, which is a temporary cease-fire for the release of hostages as well as the release of Palestinians detained in Israel, that could lead to a more permanent cease-fire and what the U.S. is really hoping for, progress across the region, namely, normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia and steps toward a two-state solution for the Palestinians.

• Geoff Bennett:

  So, more to come on that front.

  Meantime, the U.N. agency that delivers aid to Gaza stands accused of being infiltrated by Hamas. As I understand it, Israel has created a dossier about that. What does it say?

• Nick Schifrin:

  Yes, the dossier was attained by "PBS NewsHour," and it's quite damning about UNRWA.

  It says that 13 UNRWA staffers in total were involved in October the 7th. And you see there four UNRWA staff were involved in kidnapping on October the 7th. Six UNRWA staff infiltrated into Israel. It also says Hamas fighters have used UNRWA facilities as hideouts to conceal weapons within UNRWA equipment.

  And there's also longer-term collaboration between UNRWA and Hamas in this dossier. Hamas built tunnels under the headquarters of UNRWA, under an UNRWA school, and that, in total, 10 percent of all of UNRWA is actually Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an other militant group. That is about 1,200 of 13,000 people.

  But here's the problem. UNRWA is the only game in town when it comes to delivering humanitarian aid. The U.S. has stopped humanitarian assistance. Sorry. It has stopped funding for UNRWA temporarily. But U.S. and quietly Israeli officials are acknowledging, you see how much UNRWA does right there, these tent cities, all of the medical help that Gazans need right now.

  The freezing of funding, Geoff, is expected to be temporary. And U.S. officials are trying to make sure that it's as short as possible so that UNRWA activities are actually not stopped.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Nick Schifrin, thank you for that reporting and for unpacking all of those developments. We appreciate it.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Thanks, Geoff.

Improved audio player available on our mobile page