US convenes G7 meeting over Iran’s attack on Israel

US President Joe Biden says a meeting of the G7 countries will be convened on Sunday (today) to “coordinate a united diplomatic response” to Iran’s attack on Israel.

Iran attacked Israel as a reprisal for a strike that killed an Iranian military commander in Damascus in early April.

 

The G7 countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, and the US.

 

In a statement, Biden said he reassured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the US’ “ironclad commitment” to security in the Middle Eastern country.

 “I’ve just spoken with Prime Minister Netanyahu to reaffirm America’s ironclad commitment to the security of Israel,” the US president said.

 

“I told him that Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks — sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel.

“Tomorrow, I will convene my fellow G7 leaders to coordinate a united diplomatic response to Iran’s brazen attack. My team will engage with their counterparts across the region.

 

 “And we will stay in close touch with Israel’s leaders. And while we have not seen attacks on our forces or facilities today, we will remain vigilant to all threats and will not hesitate to take all necessary action to protect our people.”

While condemning Iran’s attack, Biden said Israel was able to defend itself with the help of the US.

 

“At my direction, to support the defense of Israel, the U.S. military moved aircraft and ballistic missile defense destroyers to the region over the course of the past week,” he said.

 

“Thanks to these deployments and the extraordinary skill of our service members, we helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles.”