Wolf Blitzer Raises Possibility of War With Iran During Interview With White House Spokesman

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer asked National Security Council coordinator John Kirby about the possibility of the United States going to war with Iran during an interview on Monday.

“CNN has learned that the U.S. has intelligence right now that Iranian-backed militia groups are planning to further ramp up attacks against American forces in the Middle East,” said Blitzer on CNN’s The Situation Room, before asking Kirby, “What is the Biden administration prepared to do to combat this?”

Kirby — who has accused Iran of being “complicit” in Hamas’ recent attack against Israeli civilians — replied:

Well, without speaking to specific intelligence, this is something we’ve been watching very, very closely. In fact, today we were very clear publicly that we know Iran’s backing these groups, we know that they’re giving them the means, the resources, the training, the encouragement, and direct contacts with the IRGC, the revolutionary guard to conduct these attacks on our troops.

We will do what we have to do to protect our forces and our facilities in the region. That will continue, and we’ve sent a strong signal to Iran through the additional military capabilities that we’re putting in the region that we have national security interests writ large across that region, and we’re going to protect and defend them as well.

After Blitzer questioned, “So is a U.S. war against Iran possible?” Kirby said:

I think what we want to see more than anything, Wolf, is no widening of this conflict, no deepening of it, and we continue to send a strong message to actors in the region, including Iran, that if you’re thinking about jumping in here, you’re thinking about deepening and widening and escalating, don’t do it. We will take our national security interests very, very seriously in the region, and we’ve added to the military capabilities to make sure that we can do that.

CNN reported on Monday that the U.S. had received intelligence that “Iranian-backed militia groups are planning to ramp up attacks against US forces in the Middle East, as Iran seeks to capitalize on the backlash in the region to US support for Israel, according to multiple US officials.”

One U.S. official told CNN there were “red lights flashing everywhere,” while another said, “We are preparing for this escalation, both in terms of defending our forces and being prepared to respond decisively.”

Watch above via CNN.