John Kirby says Iran ‘complicit’ in Hamas Terror but no Evidence it Helped Plan Attack Transcript

The Biden administration is watching all of these developments very closely, and moments ago I spoke with John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council. John Kirby, welcome back to the NewsHour.

Thank you very much for having me.

The US, as you well know, is beefing up its presence in the Middle East, moving an aircraft carrier, navy warships’ fighter jets to the Eastern Mediterranean, also providing Israel with more weapons and ammunition. Does that massive response beyond sending a show of support? Does it signal that the US is concerned about the potential for other parts of the region being drawn into this war between Israel and Hamas?

What it shows or what it demonstrates is how seriously we take our national security interests, and so there’s really two messages coming out of this. One is reassurance to the American people and, frankly, to our allies and partners that we have national security interests in the region and we will make sure that we’re able to meet those commitments. And two deterrents, that no other actor be a terrorist group or no other nation-state ought to think that this is a good time to take advantage of the violence inside Israel for their own ends because their interests are inimical to that of Israel. Israel is a friend, and a partner, and a close one at that, and so we’re sending that strong message of deterrence.

Well, in his remarks yesterday, President Biden warned other parties in the region about joining the attack against Israel. What is the administration most concerned or worried about?

We are certainly, first and foremost, concerned about making sure that the Israeli people and their armed forces have the capabilities and the tools to defend themselves. That’s the first order of business. Number two is, of course, making sure that we get more granular information about Americans whose whereabouts are unknown right now. Sadly, we have 11 families, American families that are grieving the loss of loved ones. We don’t want that number to grow, so we’re trying to get more information about them. And then the other thing we’re focused on right now is making sure that we are able to communicate with Americans who are in Israel, many live there, work there, travel there. So that they know that there’s resources at the State Department and at the embassy that they can draw on for more information about the situation where they are, and if they want to leave, and how to do that.

As you work to learn more information about the Americans in the region. Yesterday, Israel’s minister for strategic affairs, he said that Americans were taken hostage by Hamas. He said that definitively. Can you confirm that?

I cannot, unfortunately, we are still trying to get more information about Americans whose whereabouts are unknown. We have to accept the possibility that at least some of those unaccounted-for Americans could be held hostage by Hamas right now, but we just don’t have specific information to be able to confirm that.

Israel says it’s not negotiating to get the hostages that Hamas has. Does the US agree with that position with respect to the potential American hostages?

I’ll let Israel speak for itself. I can tell you that there’s no higher priority for President Biden than the safety and security of Americans overseas. We’ve acted and will continue to act in the interest of making sure that Americans who are held hostage or wrongfully detained overseas get home with their families. But we don’t usually talk publicly about how we go about doing that, and I don’t think I want to break precedent here today.

There are questions, as you well know, about the degree to which Iran was involved, directly involved in the attacks over the weekend. The Wall Street Journal reports that Iranian security officials helped plan Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel and gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday. What evidence does the US have of that being true?

Right now? None. We’re looking very hard to see if there is corroborating evidence that proves that Iran was a participant in these attacks, but we just haven’t seen it, and frankly, our Israeli counterparts, they haven’t seen it either. But look, make no mistake, there’s a degree of complicity here just because Iran’s been supporting Hamas now for many, many years. Weapons, tools, capabilities, training, so clearly, Iran, there’s a complicity here, but in terms of the specific series of attacks we’ve seen in the last 24, 36 hours, we just don’t have direct evidence.

There are ongoing talks regarding a peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia and conversations about the US providing security guarantees to Saudi Arabia, and there are observers who say that Hamas and Iran had a motivation to derail that deal because it threatens to further isolate them. What does the administration see as the impact of this conflict, of this war on those talks?

Too soon to tell. That’s the bottom line. I mean, we’re still committed to seeing normalization proceed. We think that’s good, not just for Israel and Saudi Arabia, but for us and for everybody that lives in the region. Obviously, those are decisions that only Israel and Saudi Arabia can make, but in working towards it, they’ll find no better friend than the United States. And we still believe that that’s months and months away and that there’s still opportunity to pursue that air of diplomacy, that degree of diplomacy, and we want to see it continue to persist. But right now, look, obviously, right now the focus has got to be on making sure Israel can defend itself against these Hamas terrorists. That’s squarely where our energies are being applied.

Both US and Israeli officials say that none of Israel’s intelligence services had any specific warnings that Hamas was going to try to carry out this spectacular attack by land, by sea, and by air ahead of time. What accounts for that intelligence failure?

There’s going to be a time where we appropriately will take a look at the intel picture and what was missed by whom and when. We’ll do that, I’m sure the Israelis will do that, but now’s not that time. The time right now is to make sure Israel can defend itself, that we can get better information about the Americans who are in Israel, particularly the ones that are unaccounted for, and then also to make sure we’re looking after those families that have just received the worst possible news that any family can receive about a loved one yesterday and today. We got to make sure that they get the support that they need. Again, there’ll be a time to take a look at the intel picture. We’ll do that. They will do that, but right now we got to stay focused on the task at hand.

Understood. Lastly, John Kirby Israel announced its largest ever mobilization, more than 300,000 army reservists called up in response to these attacks. It raises the specter of a wider regional war. How is the Biden administration aiming to contend with that alongside the war in Ukraine and a rising confrontation with China?

Well, again, nobody wants to see the war in Ukraine go on one day longer. Nobody wants to see any of the terrorist attacks and the violence we’ve seen in Israel, certainly. We are a big enough, powerful enough, economically viable, and vibrant enough country to be able to support multiple national security interests around the world. You mentioned the tensions in the Indo-Pacific, clearly that are caused by the PRC. Now we’ve got ships and stations and aircraft and personnel, thousands and thousands of them in the Indo-Pacific. They’ll still be on the task today and tomorrow and next week. We are supporting Ukraine as they fight back on Russian aggression, that’s important too. That support needs to continue, and obviously, we’re going to stay focused on making sure Israel has what it needs. We have a longstanding defense relationship with Israel that’s not going to change going forward.

John Kirby is coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council. Thanks for your time this evening.

Yes, sir.