UPDATE - White House says Biden, Netanyahu discussed Israeli response to Iranian ballistic missile attack

ADDS DETAILS THROUGHOUT

​​​​​​​By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed Tel Aviv’s planned retaliation for last week's Iranian ballistic missile attack against Israel during a long-awaited call, the White House said Wednesday.

"They continued their discussion on a response to Iran's attack last week, a discussion that certainly started at the staff level, and now the two leaders were able to have a productive, straightforward, honest conversation, as they tend to do," spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

Iran said it carried out the Oct. 1 strike on Israel in retaliation for the assassinations of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July and last month's killing of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut. The Islamic Republic has warned that it will respond decisively if Israel retaliates.

The phone call between Biden and Netanyahu took place Wednesday morning, and the official White House readout was issued hours later. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running to succeed Biden in November's presidential election, also took part in the call.

The leaders had not spoken in about two months as Israel widened its war against Hezbollah last month, carrying out sweeping aerial strikes and mounting a ground invasion of the tiny Mediterranean nation.

During the call, the White House said Biden "affirmed his ironclad commitment to Israel’s security" and "condemned unequivocally Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel." It did not elaborate further and omitted any mention of Biden's publicly stated appeals that Israel should refrain from striking Iran's nuclear or oil infrastructure.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant threatened Iran with a "lethal, precise, and especially surprising" retaliation.

"They won't understand what happened or how it happened, but they'll see the result," he said. "You've witnessed the recent attacks by the Iranians, which were aggressive but failed because they were inaccurate. No air force assets were harmed, no aircraft were harmed, and no soldiers or civilians were injured."

On Israel's ongoing bombardment and invasion of Lebanon, the White House said Biden "emphasized the need for a diplomatic arrangement to safely return both Lebanese and Israeli civilians to their homes on both sides of the Blue Line."

"The President affirmed Israel’s right to protect its citizens from Hezbollah, which has fired thousands of missiles and rockets into Israel over the past year alone, while emphasizing the need to minimize harm to civilians, in particular in the densely populated areas of Beirut," it said.

Jean-Pierre earlier rejected a threat from Netanyahu that Lebanon will see "destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza" if the Lebanese people do not oust Hezbollah.

"We cannot and will not see Lebanon turned into another Gaza. That is not what we want to see," she told reporters. "The suffering in both Gaza and Lebanon adds even greater urgency, as you've heard from us, to our efforts, certainly to end the conflicts and lay a foundation for lasting peace and security in the region."

During Biden's call with the Israeli premier, "the leaders discussed the urgent need to renew diplomacy to release the hostages held by Hamas. The President also discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the imperative to restore access to the north, including by reinvigorating the corridor from Jordan immediately," the readout said.

It added that Biden and Netanyahu "agreed to remain in close contact over the coming days both directly and through their national security teams.