Mideast conflict cannot spread: Biden
US President Joe Biden has said he wants to prevent the Middle East conflict from spreading but vowed to defend Israel after Iran launched an unprecedented aerial attack on the key US ally.
Biden also reiterated his desire for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas following the October 7 attacks.
"Iran launched an unprecedented aerial attack against Israel, and we launched an unprecedented military effort to defend it. Together with our partners, we defended that attack," Biden said as he met Iraq's Prime Minister at the White House.
"The United States is committed to Israel's security. We're committed to a ceasefire that will bring the hostages home and prevent the conflict from spreading beyond what it already has," Biden added in the Oval Office.
Israel is weighing its response to Iran's massive drone and missile attack on Saturday, which Tehran said was in retaliation for a presumed Israeli strike on an Iranian consulate building in Syria that killed a top general. US forces helped Israel take down almost all the projectiles.
'Restraint'
Iraq's Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-sudani, visiting for talks on the presence of US troops in Iraq as part of an anti-jihadist coalition, called for "restraint".
"We encourage all the efforts to stop the expansion of the area of conflict, especially the latest development," he said, speaking in Arabic through a translator.
Sudani added that he was "very eager" for an end to the Gaza war. Iraq has been trying to stay out of regional tensions, even as armed groups in the country have carried out a series of attacks on US facilities since October 7.
The White House meanwhile denied that it had received advance warning of the timing or targets of Iran's attack, which it called a "spectacular" failure.
"I've seen reporting that the Iranians meant to fail, that this spectacular and embarrassing failure was all by design," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told a briefing.
"I've also seen Iran say that they provided early warning to help Israel prepare its defences and limit any potential damage. All of this is categorically false."
US officials have previously said that Iran passed a message through Switzerland to Washington saying they intended to respond to the Damascus strike.
Iran closed nuclear facilities
Iran temporarily closed its nuclear facilities over "security considerations" in the wake of its massive missile and drone attack on Israel over the weekend, the head of the UN'S atomic watchdog said on Monday.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a UN Security Council meeting, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi was asked whether he was concerned about the possibility of an Israeli strike on an Iranian nuclear facility in retaliation for the attack.
"We are always concerned about this possibility. What I can tell you is that our inspectors in Iran were informed by the Iranian government that yesterday (Sunday), all the nuclear facilities that we are inspecting every day would remain closed on security considerations," he said.