ABC correspondents in Jerusalem and Washington weigh in on Iran’s attack

ABC NEWS (Australia)

This is the first time Iran has directly attacked Israel. To help explain the global reaction, let's bring in our correspondents. Allyson Horn is in Jerusalem, and Barbara Miller is in Washington.

Transcript

00:00Well, Israel's military says its chief of staff has been given approval for a retaliation.

00:09We don't know what that will look like, if it'll happen on Iranian territory or perhaps

00:14in a third-party country that supports Iran, like Syria or Lebanon, but we do expect there'll

00:20be some sort of response within the next 24 hours.

00:23But Israel will be acutely aware of how dangerous this moment is, sitting on the precipice of

00:29what could turn into a major regional war if this situation escalates, and there are

00:34countries in the Middle East that don't want that.

00:38They are urging Israel to show restraint.

00:41Iran for its part says this operation is now over, but it too is warning Israel that if

00:47Israel shows a significant response, then Iran will increase its attack on Israel further

00:54than what we've seen here in the last 24 hours.

00:57And countries across the world are increasingly concerned, including Israel's closest ally,

01:03the United States.

01:04My colleague Barbara Miller has been monitoring events in Washington.

01:07Barb.

01:08Yeah, the President is clearly very worried about the possibility of this conflict getting

01:16deeper and wider.

01:17He's seeking to reassure Israel that the US has its back, at the same time to urge restraint.

01:24We're told that Joe Biden told Benjamin Netanyahu in that call that Israel had demonstrated

01:30a remarkable ability to defend itself and had sent a clear message to its foes.

01:36The underlying message from Washington is that Israel, with the help of the US and others,

01:43has done enough and should not further provoke matters.

01:47And also later today, Joe Biden we hear will convene a meeting of G7 leaders as he seeks

01:54to coordinate a united diplomatic response to these attacks.

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