Hamas militants launched a multi-pronged air, ground, and sea offensive and penetrated into Israeli territory on Saturday at dawn, resulting in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration the following day that the country was “embarking on a long and difficult war.”
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told Rudaw in an interview on the White House premises that there is no evidence pointing to Iran’s direct involvement in the attacks.
“Hamas would not be able to function were it not for the support that they get from Iran, what we just haven't seen is any specific evidence that they were aware of, or involved in the planning and operation of these particular sets of attacks,’’ said the NSC spokesperson, adding that the US has not seen “any indications that any other group or organization or nation has tried to widen this conflict, and that's good. That's what we want to see.’’
A report by the Wall Street Journal claimed that Iran helped Hamas to plot its surprise attack against Israel and gave it the “final go-ahead” in a meeting in Beirut last Monday, citing senior Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah members.
Iran’s foreign ministry on Monday denied the accusations.
Since Saturday, Iran-backed militia groups in Iraq and Syria have threatened to attack American positions if the US intervenes in the Israel-Gaza war.
“I'm not predicting anything in particular, but our troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria have the right and they have the authority, and they have the capabilities to defend themselves against any attack,’’ said Kirby, noting that the US has “been taking the activities of Iran-backed groups seriously.”
The US has shown its unwavering support for Israel, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announcing that Washington would be sending equipment and munitions to Israel, the first shipment of which, arrived at Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel on Tuesday.
“There’s no efforts to work towards a ceasefire right now, right now we're focused on supporting Israel as they defend themselves,’’ said Kirby.
What follows is a transcript of the interview...
Rudaw: Thank you so much, John, for being with us today. I want to start with that. Could you give me an update about the hostages and American citizens who have been missing in the region?
Kirby: Today, we know that there are 17 Americans that are unaccounted for. We don't know where they all are. We think a small number of them are being held hostage right now. We just don't know exactly. So, we're doing the best we can to work with the Israelis, and certainly with the families to get as much information as we can about their whereabouts.
Have you tried to reach directly or indirectly with Hamas to bring those Americans who have been taken hostages back home safely?
We have a strong message for Hamas and we've delivered publicly. They need to release all their hostages right now.t I don't have any specific negotiations or conversations with Hamas to speak to. We don't have that kind of relationship with this is a foreign terrorist organization, one of the most heavily sanctioned by the United States in the world. So, we don't have open communication with Hamas other than publicly. Now, we know that there are nations in the region like Qatar that does, and so we're obviously talking to our Qatari partners as well.
And I know that during the last few days, you talked about Iran, that Iran is not directly involved in this war. But everyone knows that Hamas could not do that without the support and the financial aid by Iran. Do you think that Iran helped Hamas before this war, providing them missiles and some source of financial aid?
There's no question that Iran has a degree of complicity here because of their long-standing support for Hamas; years and years of resourcing training, funding. Hamas would not be able to function were it not for the support that they get from Iran, what we just haven't seen as any specific evidence that they were aware of or involved in the planning and operation of these particular sets of attacks.
Maybe there are a lot of people who think that Iran wasn’t directly involved in this attack, but maybe they were indirectly involved in this attack? Do you have any source of information to confirm that?
No, we don't.
And then another question. There are a lot of countries who are supporting Hamas, like we saw a lot of statements from Iraq, from Pakistan. They're issuing statements to support Hamas. Have you taken note of those statements?
I mean, we've certainly seen that the rhetoric by certain parties in support of Hamas, and it's repugnant, it's reprehensible. This is a terrorist organization that slaughters people in their beds, babies, the elderly, innocent women and children, as well as innocent men, and it's absolutely reprehensible. It's abhorrent. And for anybody to come out publicly and cheer that on, well, it tells you a lot about what their priorities are and where they stand. President spoke clearly yesterday about where we stand, and we stand clearly in support of Israel,
Have you reached out to those countries to tell them not to support Hamas, and to not give this kind of statement to Hamas, maybe this will encourage them to continue the fighting?
Those countries should speak for themselves. We've spoken for ourselves, what we're standing for, what we're standing up against. And we're confident in the approach that we're taking.
There are some Iranian-backed militia in Iraq and in Syria, they issued statements and they're warning U.S, saying that, for example, the Badr organization says that if the US is involved in this war, they are not hesitating to target the US
bases in the region. Have you taken this warning from these Iranian backed groups seriously?
We have taken the activities of these Iran-backed groups seriously, since the very beginning. I won’t talk about our force protection measures, that's something we just don't publicly detail. But we're always looking at how we need to adjust our posture to maintain the safety and security of our people on the ground. And we'll do that. We will also, before I go on, we will also act to defend ourselves. So, I'm not predicting anything in particular, but our troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria have the right and they have the authority, and they have the capabilities to defend themselves against any attack.
And you've said many times that you send some signals to the region and to the countries to not take advantage of this situation and escalation between Hamas and Israel. Do you think that there are some countries like Iran that are trying to take advantage of this?
We haven't seen any indications that any other group or organization or nation has tried to widen this conflict, and that's good. That's what we want to see.
My last question: Secretary Blinken, in his phone calls with his counterparts, for example with Turkey ... he pushed a tweet that said that they're trying to get some sort of ceasefire. Are you still supporting the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel?
There’s no efforts right now towards working towards a ceasefire.
And you're not supporting the ceasefire?
There’s no efforts to work towards a ceasefire right now, right now we're focused on supporting Israel as they defend themselves.
Thank you so much. Thank you for being with us.