White House national security spokesperson John Kirby denied to reporters this week that the Islamic Republic gave any notice to the United States about Saturday’s aerial attack on Israel, describing the claim as "categorically false" and "malarkey."
"This whole narrative out there that Iran passed us a message about what they were going to do is ridiculous," Kirby added.
The comments come as Reuters on Sunday cited a Turkish official who claimed that not only did Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who served as an intermediary on the issue, speak to Secretary of State Antony Blinken about Tehran’s intentions, but that the Biden administration gave approval for the strike if it was undertaken "within certain limits."
Kirby’s comments are also contradicted by Jordanian and Iraqi officials, who have stated that the regime’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, gave a 72-hour warning to Washington.
On Monday, The Wall St. Journal reported that the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia informed U.S. intelligence services of the pending incursion and, in some instances, assisted in defensive measures to protect the Jewish state.
Despite the evidence and his denials, the spokesperson did not waste time in assigning blame to who he thought was responsible for Tehran’s actions on Saturday.
When asked by Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday about the possibility of Joe Biden’s policy of sanctions relief causing the terror-supporting state to become more emboldened, Kirby blamed the former Trump administration for their behavior.
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