United States President Joe Biden says U.S. forces helped Israel shoot down nearly all the drones and missiles fired by Iran on Saturday night.

Biden added that he was convening fellow G7 leaders on Sunday to coordinate a diplomatic response against Tehran, in another sign that he is trying to avoid any further military escalation that could ignite a wider Middle East conflict.

The president said he had called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reaffirm the United States’ “ironclad” support for Israel, after recent tense relations over Israel’s war in Gaza.

“I told him that Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks – sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel,” he said.

Biden said he had ordered U.S. military aircraft and ballistic missile defense destroyers to the Middle East in recent days, as the likely threat following a presumed Israeli strike on Iranians in Damascus became clear.

“Thanks to these deployments and the extraordinary skill of our service members, we helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles,” Biden said.

Biden added that he would on Sunday “convene my fellow G7 leaders to coordinate a united diplomatic response to Iran’s brazen attack.”

Iran launches drone attacks on Israel

His comments hinted at the U.S. balancing act between supporting its ally and wanting to deescalate tensions, amid fears of United States being dragged into another Middle East war, according to AFP.

Those fears have mounted ever since a presumed Israeli strike on April 1 levelled an Iranian diplomatic building in Damascus, the capital of Syria, killing seven members of the elite Revolutionary Guards, including two generals.

After launching the drone strikes, Iran warned the United States on Sunday to “stay away” from its conflict with Israel.

Earlier on Saturday, Biden had cut short a weekend trip to the Delaware coast and flew back to Washington for an emergency meeting at the White House with his top national security officials.

He posted a picture of the meeting in the wood-paneled White House Situation Room with officials including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and CIA Director Bill Burns.

Biden’s handling of the Middle East conflict will also be under scrutiny in a U.S. presidential election year.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump, Biden’s rival in November’s election, said the Democratic incumbent was showing “weakness”.

“God bless the people of Israel. They are under attack right now. That’s because we show great weakness,” Republican Trump said at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

The Star