U.S. President Joe Biden faces intensifying pressure to confront Iran directly after the country’s proxies killed three American soldiers in a drone strike in Jordan, risking precisely the wider regional conflict that he’s said he wants to avoid.
A person familiar with the U.S. position, who asked not to be identified discussing private discussions, said it was clear that a strike killing Americans would force a stronger response than what the U.S. has done so far in the weeks since Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7 and touched off a new conflagration in the Middle East.
One possibility is covert action that would see the U.S. strike Iran without claiming credit for it but sending a clear message regardless. The Biden administration could also target Iranian officials directly, as former President Donald Trump did when he ordered the killing of General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020.