Biden, Harris meet with national security team as US watches for Iranian retaliation

Washington CNN —

Washington on Monday braced for an expected Iranian retaliation for the killing of a top Hamas leader in Tehran last week, even as deep uncertainty swirled around when Iran would act — and how far it might go.

Multiple US officials across the region and in Washington told CNN that the US expects Iran to retaliate in the coming days – perhaps even within the next 24 hours – against Israel for Ismail Haniyeh’s killing.

But the US has struggled to gauge when the response will come and what form it will take, in part because Iran already moved some of the military assets necessary to carry out a major attack on Israel in April, making it more difficult for US intelligence to predict its actions now, according to two US officials.

Officials are relying on multiple streams of intelligence, and there are divisions among national security officials on how and when Iran’s response might unfold.

The relative uncertainty has left the Biden administration in a defensive crouch as it tries to rally allies and pressure Iran not to escalate tensions.

The killing of Haniyeh – who served as a top Hamas political figure whose job included a role as one of the group’s chief hostage and ceasefire negotiators – along with the killing of Hezbollah leader Fu’ad Shukr in Lebanon last week have thrown the war into its most uncertain phase.

While the bulk of the war has been fought between Israel and Iran’s proxies – Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon – Haniyeh’s assassination on Iranian soil and Iran’s vows of retaliation threaten to throw the conflict into a regional war that could draw in the United States.

People await their flights at the Beirut International Airport departure hall on August 5, 2024. Urgent