America moved an aircraft carrier into the eastern Mediterranean to send a message of deference to Tehran because it understood that it might get involved in the Gaza war, United States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday morning.
“We have means of communicating privately with Iran. And we have availed ourselves of those means over the past few days to make clear privately that which we have said publicly,” Sullivan said.
US President Joe Biden has said publicly that he has only one word to say in response to Iranian threats of involvement - “Don’t.”
Sullivan on Sunday said, “There is a risk of an escalation of this conflict, the opening of a second front in the north, and of course of Iran's involvement- that is a risk.”
The Biden administration has “been mindful” of that threat “since the start. It's why the President moves so rapidly and decisively to get an aircraft carrier into the eastern Mediterranean,” Sullivan explained.
'We can't rule out that Iran would choose to get directly engaged'
Biden wanted “to send a very clear message of deterrence to any state or any actor that would seek to exploit this situation,” Sullivan added.
He spoke on the ninth day of the war, which Israel has dubbed Operation Swords of Iron to expel the Hamas military wing and government from the Gaza Strip in response to its killing of 1,300 civilians and soldiers and the taking over 150 people hostage on October 7th.
The US and other major powers have engaged in an intense round of diplomacy in an effort to ensure that Hamas, an Iranian proxy group, remains the only actor violently engaged with Israel.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been in the region since Thursday traveling between Israel and Arab states in an effort to contain the conflict and ensure the release of the hostages.
But concern is high that Hezbollah an Iranian proxy group on Israel’s northern border could also attack the Jewish state.
Iran has also warned that it could get directly involved unless Israel halts its retaliatory strikes against Gaza which have killed over 2,300 people.
“We are concerned about proxy forces. Lebanese Hezbollah, a proxy force of Iran, is there, a raid on Israel's northern border with considerable military capacity and a history of attacking the State of Israel,” Sullivan told Face the Nation.
“In fact, we have seen in the last few days skirmishes across that northern border that only enhances the risk of escalation. But of course, we can't rule out that Iran would choose to get directly engaged in some way; we have to prepare for every possible contingency,” Sullivan