Biden Vows Retaliation After Attack on U.S. Forces in Jordan

President Biden and his team marked the day had dreaded for over three months, as the relatively minor assaults by Iranian proxy groups on U.S. troops in the Middle East became lethal, adding pressure on the president to reciprocate.

With three American service members killed and two dozen more injured by a drone in Jordan, Mr. Biden must decide how far he is willing to go in terms of retaliation at the risk of a wider war that he has sought to avoid ever since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas touched off the current Middle East crisis.

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Strategic Calculations: Biden Approached Over 150 Attacks by Iranians

Until now, the president had carefully calibrated his responses to the more than 150 attacks by Iranian-backed militias on American forces in the region since Oct. 7. He essentially ignored the majority that was successfully intercepted or did little to no damage while authorizing limited U.S. strikes focused mainly on buildings, weapons, and infrastructure after attacks that were more bold, most notably against the Houthis in Yemen who have targeted shipping in the Red Sea.

The first deaths of American troops under fire, however, will require a different level of response, American officials said, and the president’s advisers were in consensus about that as they consulted with him by secure videoconference on Sunday. What remained unclear was whether Mr. Biden would strike targets inside Iran itself, as his Republican critics urged him to do, saying he would be a “coward” if he did not, as one put it.

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