The White House announced early on Saturday afternoon that Joe Biden is returning to Washington from out of town “to consult with his national security team about events in the Middle East” amid heightened tension between Israel and Iran.
The US president had been due to spend the weekend in Delaware at his beach residence but on Saturday set off at short notice to return to the White House.
This followed Biden saying on Friday that he expects an Iranian attack on Israel “sooner rather than later” and issued a last-ditch message to Tehran, saying: “Don’t.”
Earlier, John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, had warned that the threat of a significant Iranian attack on Israel remained “viable” despite Washington-led efforts, including calls to Tehran from the UK and Germany, to deter a serious escalation in the conflict in the Middle East.
On Saturday, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps in the strait of Hormuz, 50 nautical miles off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, seized an Israeli-affiliated container ship.
Iran has threatened reprisals against Israel for a strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria on 1 April, in which seven members of the Revolutionary Guards including two generals were killed, sparking fears that an already volatile climate in the Middle East, with Israel and Hamas in Gaza at war, could quickly spiral further.
More details soon