The White House on Monday vowed a “very significant response” to a drone strike on a Jordan base that killed three U.S. troops, with President Joe Biden blaming Iran-backed militants.

The casualties were the first deaths of U.S. troops in attacks in the region since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas, raising concerns about an escalating conflict in Gaza.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN on Monday that Washington’s response will be “very important.”

“But we do not seek war with Iran. We do not seek a broader conflict in the Middle East,” he added.

Iran said it had nothing to do with the attack and denied U.S. accusations that Iranian-backed armed groups were responsible for Sunday’s attack on a remote border base in northeastern Jordan near the border with Iraq and Syria.

Biden said Sunday that while Washington was still gathering facts, “we know this was carried out by Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq,” and he pledged to hold accountable “all those responsible one time and one way.” responsibility”. Our choice. “

Kirby would not speculate on the options the president is considering, including whether targets in Iran are on the table.

He said Washington wanted to “make clear” that the attack was “unacceptable” and was part of a series of other increasingly dangerous attacks by Iran-backed militants in the region in recent weeks.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron joined Biden on Sunday in blaming “Iran-aligned” militants and calling on Tehran to “de-escalate tensions in the region.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani denied the accusations, calling them “baseless” and adding that Tehran “had no involvement in the resistance’s decisions.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, although Iraq’s Islamic resistance group claimed on Sunday three drone attacks on bases in Syria, including one near the Jordanian border.

The group, a loose alliance of armed groups with ties to Iran, opposes U.S. support for Israel in the Gaza conflict and wants Israel to withdraw from Iraq. The group claims dozens of attacks against counter-jihadi coalition forces in the United States and Iraq.

“Area Explosion”

Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Iran-backed Hamas, said the Jordan attack sent a message that fighting in Gaza “has the potential to trigger a regional explosion.”

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said late Sunday that the attack hit the remote Tower 22 logistics support base, injuring 34 people, eight of whom required evacuation.

U.S. Central Command said there are about 350 U.S. Army and Air Force personnel at the base who serve in support roles, including supporting the international coalition fighting the Islamic State jihadist group.

The escalating conflict in the Middle East poses an election-year challenge to Biden, and Republican politicians were quick to target him over the weekend.

U.S. and allied forces in Iraq and Syria have been targeted in more than 150 attacks since mid-October, according to the Pentagon, and Washington has launched retaliatory strikes against both countries.

According to official AFP statistics, the latest round of conflict between Israel and Hamas began when the Palestinian militant group launched an unprecedented attack on October 7, killing about 1,140 people, most of them civilians.

Israel retaliated with a relentless military offensive that killed at least 26,637 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Strip’s health ministry.

Anger over the movement is growing across the region, with violence also occurring by Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

Fighting occurs almost daily between Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel. The US military is directly involved in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

The United States and Britain have both launched attacks on Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have been attacking Red Sea shipping for more than two months in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)