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Iran has told the United States through intermediaries that any strike on its own soil would cross a red line and provoke reprisals on American targets in the region, according to a report.

The grim warning came as the world holds its breath to see how Joe Biden will respond to the killing of three U.S. soldiers by Iranian-backed militias.

Biden on Tuesday said he had already made his decision regarding reprisals for the deaths on Sunday – but did not disclose what it was. 

He spent Monday sequestered with his military and national security advisers weighing up a range of options drawn up and debated over decades: among them striking Iranian assets in the Persian Gulf; taking on Iran-backed militias in Syria and Iraq; launching a cyberattack and – the most fraught option – launching strikes on Iranian territory, to take out commanders and key military sites.

On Tuesday, The Guardian reported that Tehran has told Washington via intermediaries that if it strikes Iranian territory directly, Tehran will itself hit back at American assets in the Middle East.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, is seen on January 16 addressing Iranian clerics. Iran has reportedly warned the US not to strike targets within Iranian territory

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, is seen on January 16 addressing Iranian clerics. Iran has reportedly warned the US not to strike targets within Iranian territory

Iranian officials have insisted they did not order the strikes which killed three U.S. soldiers, but are known to supply and fund the groups that did

Iranian officials have insisted they did not order the strikes which killed three U.S. soldiers, but are known to supply and fund the groups that did

Joe Biden is seen on Monday in the Situation Room with Lloyd Austin, the Secretary of Defense. Biden said on Tuesday he has made up his mind about reprisals

Joe Biden is seen on Monday in the Situation Room with Lloyd Austin, the Secretary of Defense. Biden said on Tuesday he has made up his mind about reprisals

Biden and his team have insisted the U.S. is trying to avoid escalation, and the president does not want another war to deal with – especially in an election year.

‘I don’t think we need a wider war in the Middle East, that’s not what I’m looking for,’ he said on Tuesday at the White House.

Pressed about concerns raised by his own administration about the risks of escalation, the president replied: ‘We’ll see.’

Administration officials are saying that the reprisals will be carried out over time, in a series of strikes.

Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State, said on Monday: ‘We will respond decisively to any aggression, and we will hold responsible the people who attacked our troops. That response could be multileveled, come in stages and be sustained over time.’

From left to right: Spc. Kennedy Sanders, Sgt. William Jerome Rivers and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett. The three U.S. Army Reserve soldiers from Georgia were killed by a drone strike on Sunday

From left to right: Spc. Kennedy Sanders, Sgt. William Jerome Rivers and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett. The three U.S. Army Reserve soldiers from Georgia were killed by a drone strike on Sunday

A U.S. official told ABC News the strikes will be carried out ‘over the course of several days’, and hit ‘multiple targets.’

The official would not specify if the targets are inside or outside of Iran, but added: ‘These are going to be very deliberate targets – deliberate strikes on facilities that enabled these attacks’ on U.S. forces.

There have been over 160 attacks launched by Iranian-backed militias on U.S. targets in Iraq, Syria and Jordan since the October 7 terror attack.

The various militia groups, which call themselves the ‘Axis of Resistance’, say they are attacking the U.S. to force them to end their support for Israel’s war in Gaza. Analysts say Iran is simply taking advantage of the chaos.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s foreign minister, said he felt Iran was winning people over to its way of thinking.

He said the White House knew well that ‘a political solution’ was required to end the horrors in the Gaza Strip and the wider issues in the Middle East.

‘Diplomacy is moving forward on this path,’ he said. ‘Benjamin Netanyahu is nearing the end of his criminal political life.’

Iran’s deputy interior minister, Seyyed Majid Mirahmadi, held a meeting with his Syrian counterparts, amid acknowledgment that an attack on Iranian-backed militias in Syria was the most likely path.

Mirahmadi and his Syrian allies discussed the crisis and insisted the ‘Axis of Resistance’ was on the verge of victory, The Guardian reported.

And Javad Zarif, the former Iranian foreign minister, said he believed Israel’s ‘aura of invincibility’ had cracked.

‘The foreign policy of the Israeli regime is based on two axes: oppression and invincibility,’ he said.

The three U.S. service members killed in Sunday’s attack on a base in Jordan have been named as Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Georgia; Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Georgia; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia – all from an Army Reserve engineering unit from Georgia.

The White House on Tuesday said that Biden has spoken to the families of all three, and they agreed to his request to attend the ‘dignified transfer’ ceremony, when their remains land back in the United States at Dover Air Force base.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Monday the militias ‘do not take orders’ from Iran and act independently.

But Tehran is widely known to be the driving force for the attacks on the U.S. targets. Biden’s own aides, according to The New York Times, admit the efforts to hit targets in the region in response to drone and missile attacks – to ‘restore deterrence,’ the administration says – have failed.

Iran has suggested any strikes within Iran itself would cross a red line. Former CIA chief of staff Jeremy Bash said escalation is ‘unavoidable’.

He said: Biden ‘cannot avoid the international challenges even in an election year.’ 

He added: ‘There is a sense that our deterrence measures to date have not been received by Tehran as we hoped, so escalation is unavoidable.’

The president again warned that the U.S. would hold those responsible 'to account.' He met with members of his security team including Austin, who has been working at home for weeks after being hospitalized

The president again warned that the U.S. would hold those responsible ‘to account.’ He met with members of his security team including Austin, who has been working at home for weeks after being hospitalized

The drone attack late Saturday night impacted a US outpost located in the northeast part of the country known as Tower 22, near the Syria border, and resulted in at least 34 other injuries

The drone attack late Saturday night impacted a US outpost located in the northeast part of the country known as Tower 22, near the Syria border, and resulted in at least 34 other injuries

Now Biden has made his call, retaliation are believed likely begin a few days later and come in waves, against a range of targets.

Campaign officials hope that the 81-year-old president, who spent six years as head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has deep relationships with many key players in the Middle East, will impress wavering voters with his calm and competence.

The Pentagon and State Department have spent decades drawing up scenarios and creating lists of possible targets.

The New York Times reported that the U.S. has identified the major drone-making factories, and their overseas suppliers, which are working to help Russia in Ukraine, and providing armaments to the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The working assumption of American officials, the paper said, is that Sunday’s attack was by an Iranian-made drone.

The Pentagon has existing plans for potential strikes on Iranian missile sites and air bases, in case a conflict broke out between Iran and Israel. Israel has been carrying out high-profile bombing runs, practicing attacks on the Natanz nuclear site and the underground facility at Fordow.

The U.S. has even formulated a cyberattack option against Iran, code-named ‘Nitro Zeus,’ the New York Times reported.

The cyberattack would disable Iran’s air defenses, communications systems and crucial parts of its power grid.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was back at work at the Pentagon for the first time since his December surgery for a procedure he did not disclose to the White House in advance. He attended a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the Pentagon Monday

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was back at work at the Pentagon for the first time since his December surgery for a procedure he did not disclose to the White House in advance. He attended a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the Pentagon Monday

Republicans, led by Trump, are demanding Biden take decisive action. Trump backed away from attacking Iran in November 2020, shortly after the election.

He asked for options on attacking Iran’s main nuclear site, a day after a U.N. watchdog report showed Iran had finished moving a first cascade of advanced centrifuges from an above-ground plant at its main uranium enrichment site to an underground one, in a fresh breach of its 2015 nuclear deal with major powers.

But Trump ultimately decided against taking the dramatic step, privately worrying about the implications of an all-out war with Iran.

On Sunday, Trump said he would have been tougher against Iran. ‘Three years ago, Iran was weak, broke, and totally under control,’ he wrote on Truth Social.

‘Thanks to my Maximum Pressure policy, the Iranian Regime could barely scrape two dollars together to fund their terrorist proxies.’

He said the fault lay with Biden’s decision in September to unfreeze $6 billion of Iranian cash, held in Qatar, in response to Iran releasing five U.S. hostages.

Trump said Biden was now funding ‘bloodshed and carnage’, and condemned the decision.

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy's latest and most advanced aircraft carrier, was deployed to the eastern Mediterranean in response to the attack by Hamas on Israel

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy’s latest and most advanced aircraft carrier, was deployed to the eastern Mediterranean in response to the attack by Hamas on Israel

A handout photo made available by the Iranian Army office on January 19 shows a missile being launched during a military drill in the Persian Gulf

A handout photo made available by the Iranian Army office on January 19 shows a missile being launched during a military drill in the Persian Gulf

In November, the House blocked the unfreezing of the cash: the decision now goes to the Senate.

‘Then Joe Biden came in and gave Iran billions of dollars, which the Regime has used to spread bloodshed and carnage throughout the Middle East,’ said Trump.

‘This attack would NEVER have happened if I was President, not even a chance – Just like the Iranian-backed Hamas attack on Israel would never have happened, the War in Ukraine would never have happened, and we would right now have Peace throughout the World. Instead, we are on the brink of World War 3…..’

Other Republicans echoed Trump’s call for a swift and incisive response to Iran’s actions.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, called for ‘crippling costs’ for Iran, saying the pain must be felt ‘not only on frontline terrorist proxies, but on their Iranian sponsors who wear American blood as a badge of honor.’

Senator John Cornyn, the Texas Republican, demanded strikes on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina senator, said: ‘The only thing the Iranian regime understands is force. Until they pay a price with their infrastructure and their personnel, the attacks on U.S. troops will continue. ‘Hit Iran now. Hit them hard.’

Donald Trump, seen at a rally on Saturday in Nevada, said Biden had been weak on Iran

Donald Trump, seen at a rally on Saturday in Nevada, said Biden had been weak on Iran

Sen. Lindsey Graham demanded Biden: 'Hit Iran now. Hit them hard'

Sen. Lindsey Graham demanded Biden: ‘Hit Iran now. Hit them hard’

And Dan Crenshaw, a member of the House representing Texas, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, said it was time to repeat Trump’s order to kill Qasem Soleimani, leader of the Quds Force, whose January 3, 2020 death in a U.S. drone strike stunned Iran.

‘Time to kill another Iranian general, perhaps?’ said Crenshaw. ‘That might send the right message.’

Biden is aware of the increasing cost of foreign wars – Ukraine, Gaza – on his election campaign, and concerned about escalation.

He has few good options, analysts say.

‘There are no good choices, but the deaths and wounds of so many U.S. troops and SEALs demand a strong response,’ said James G. Stavridis, the retired Navy admiral who now works for the Carlyle Group, a global investment firm.

Stavridis told The New York Times that there needed to be significant reprisals.

‘A multi-day air campaign against all proxies, coupled with a ‘last chance warning’ to Iran is warranted,’ he said.

‘The Pentagon should be creating options that go directly against Iranian weapons production facilities, naval assets and intelligence systems in case the mullahs want to go another round. A strong offensive cyberattack would be another viable option, either alone or in conjunction with kinetic strikes.’

Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. Middle East peace negotiator now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Politico: ‘His options range from bad to worse. Not responding is not conscionable, but there are risks of provoking a true regional war.’

He aded: ‘They know that Iran can not afford a direct conflict with the United States, but it could fully unleash Hezbollah on Israel or American assets, and it could spiral.’

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This post first appeared on Daily mail