Pentagon doesn't rule out response for Gulf shipping attack
Iran's conflicts with its neighbors once again loom over Biden's ambitions to return to the Iran deal.
The Pentagon has not ruled out playing a role in the “collective response” promised by the Biden administration to a drone attack on an Israeli-owned shipping vessel last week in the Gulf of Oman.
The attack, which US, UK and Israeli officials have blamed on Iran, killed two people: the ship’s Romanian captain and a British crew member.
“A coordinated response doesn’t have to be a military response,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters Tuesday, before adding, “Certainly we’ll do what we need to do to protect our forces and our interests.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday called Thursday's strike on the MV Mercer Street “a direct threat to freedom of navigation and commerce” and said Iran’s government continues to show “tremendous irresponsibility” by pursuing such attacks.
