Biden returning to Washington to meet with national security team amid Mideast tensions

by Michelle L. Price and Zeke Miller
April 13, 2024

President Biden boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., on Friday enroute to New Castle, Del. He is returning to the White House amid Mideast tensions. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. — President Biden cut short a weekend stay at his Delaware beach house and is returning to the White House on Saturday to meet with his national security team and monitor the situation in the Middle East.
Soon after the White House announced the change of plans, the Pentagon reported that Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III had spoken with his Israeli counterpart “to discuss urgent regional threats ... and made clear that Israel could count on full U.S. support to defend Israel against any attacks by Iran and its regional proxies.

Amid the Israel-Hamas war, tensions have escalated since a suspected Israeli strike this month on an Iranian consular building in Syria killed 12 people, including senior Iranian generals. Israel is bracing for a possible Iranian attack, raising concerns about the United States being pulled into deeper regional conflict.

Biden on Friday said the United States was “devoted” to defending Israel and that “Iran will not succeed.”