The president clarifies a statement by Vice President Joe Biden suggesting that the U.S. would stand aside if Israel wanted to launch an attack.
By Paul Richter
Reporting from Washington — President Obama, issuing an unusual clarification of his vice president’s words, said today that his administration has “absolutely not” given its blessing for an Israeli attack on Iran.
Obama said that though Israel has the right to defend itself, U.S. officials have emphasized the need to avoid “major conflict in the Middle East.”
Vice President Joe Biden created a stir Sunday by suggesting that the United States would stand aside if the Israelis wanted to attack.
“Israel can determine for itself — it’s a sovereign nation — what’s in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else,” Biden said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Biden’s words set off a debate over whether the White House was hardening its line on Iran in the wake of Tehran’s postelection crackdown, or whether Biden had simply committed a gaffe.
Obama said in a CNN interview today that Biden was merely stating “a categorical fact, which is that we can’t dictate to other countries what their security interests are.”
But Biden left out another part of the administration’s usual formulation: that the United States wants to avoid a military strike because it could destabilize the entire Middle East.
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