Biden reaffirms ‘ironclad’ support for Israel amid Iran’s threats of a military response

With the German airline Lufthansa not flying to Iran for security reasons, and Russia urging its citizens not to travel to the Middle East, U.S. President Joe Biden reaffirmed “ironclad” support for Israel against Iran and its allies despite his differences with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the way he his handling the war in Gaza. The message came hours after the Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, promised a military response to the killing of 13 people last week — including an important military commander — in an air strike against an Iranian consular building in Damascus, Syria.

“As I told Prime Minister Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel’s security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad — let me say it again, ironclad,” said Biden as he spoke with reporters at the White House alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is in Washington on an official visit. Meanwhile, Ayatollah Khamenei insisted that “the Zionist regime […] must be punished, and it will be punished” because “when they attacked our consulate area, it was like they attacked our territory.” In response, Israel’s Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, wrote in a message on X in English, Hebrew and Farsi: “If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will respond and attack Iran.”

It is against this backdrop that the head of the United States Central Command, Michael E. Kurilla, landed on Thursday in Tel Aviv, on an unscheduled visit in which he was due to meet with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Also on Thursday, Lufthansa extended the suspension of its flights to and from Iran at least until Saturday. “We are constantly assessing the situation in the Middle East and in close contact with the authorities. The safety of our customers and crew members is Lufthansa’s top priority,” the airline stressed. Lufthansa is the only Western airline, along with its subsidiary Austrian Airlines, that flies to Iran. Austrian Airlines has so far maintained the flights (six per week), but it is going to restructure the schedules to prevent its staff from having to sleep there, just as Lufthansa did last weekend.

Sources from the U.S. intelligence services cited by Bloomberg suggest that Iran or one of its allies (such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, or militias in Iraq or Syria) will attack imminently with a high-precision missile or drone targeting Israeli military or government buildings. These sources point out that the plan does not involve directly targeting civilians, and that the question at this point is not if but when it will happen. The fear is that the Iranian response will in turn trigger an Israeli retaliation and the region will enter a broader conflict. The Russian Foreign Ministry has recommended to its citizens to refrain from traveling to the Middle East, mainly to Israel, Palestine and Lebanon.

A few days ago, Israeli military aviation carried out joint maneuvers with its Cypriot partners, simulating an attack on a distant target such as Iran, Israeli military radio Galei Tsahal reported on Thursday. A senior commander of the force pointed out the importance of aviation having “autonomous capabilities” without having to “count on anyone,” alluding to the level of involvement that Washington would assume in a broad regional conflict to defend its great ally.

At dawn, the Iranian news agency Mehr announced on its official account on X that the capital’s airspace was being closed for “military exercises.” The message was then deleted and the agency denied having published it, Reuters reported.

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