White House: We have warned the Islamic Republic not to attack U.S. personnel and facilities under the pretext of 'retaliatory action'

Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House spokesperson, emphasized in a press conference on Thursday, April 13, regarding the possibility of a retaliatory attack by the Islamic Republic in response to an alleged Israeli attack on its consulate in Damascus, that the U.S. does not want conflicts in the region to escalate. She added, 'It is clear that we do not want this conflict to escalate. We have made it very clear to Iran that we had no involvement in the Damascus attack. We informed Iran and warned them not to use this attack as a pretext for further escalating tensions in the region or attacking U.S. facilities or personnel. I will not go into details, but we have stated our position very clearly.' The White House spokesperson continued, 'You heard the President's concerns in the press conference yesterday. He emphasized that our support for Israel - especially in the face of recent threats from Iran - is always ironclad.' Jean-Pierre, in response to a question about the possibility of a joint operation by the U.S. and its partners against Iran, said, 'Without getting into hypotheticals, we have communicated our position very clearly to Iran. We have stated that we support Israel's security. There has been no change in our position, and I will not go into operational details.' The White House spokesperson also declined to provide details about the mission of General Michael Kurilla, the CENTCOM commander, during his upcoming visit to Israel on Thursday. Some media outlets have reported that coordinating the U.S. and Israeli responses to potential attacks by the Islamic Republic is the main goal of this senior U.S. military official in the region. Joe Biden emphasized in a White House press conference yesterday that U.S. support for Israel's security is 'ironclad' and conveyed this in his most recent call with the Israeli Prime Minister. Axios reported that Brett McGurk, the Deputy National Security Advisor for the Middle East, has contacted the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Iraq, asking them to convey a message to Iran. According to this report, he has asked these officials to urge Iran to reduce tensions with Israel following the alleged Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Syria. The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Iraq spoke with Hossein Amir-Abdollahian without going into details about regional issues. Tehran blames Israel and the U.S. for the attack on its consulate building, which resulted in the deaths of several commanders of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria and Lebanon. Israeli officials say they are prepared to counter any unprecedented direct attack from Iran or its proxy groups using ballistic missiles, drones, and cruise missiles against their country.