On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh responded to a question on if the U.S. will help Israel if it responds to Iran’s attack on it by stating that this “is a question for Israel to answer.” But she wouldn’t “get into hypotheticals” about if we’d answer a call for help from Israel.
Singh said [relevant remarks begin around 2:10] that how to respond to Iran “is really a sovereign decision for Israel to make. The president has been very clear that we stand with Israel and their self-defense, but we really don’t want to see a wider war, a wider regional conflict, and we don’t seek war with Iran.”
Co-host Bill Hemmer then asked, “Will the U.S. help Israel if and when it chooses to respond?”
Singh answered, “That is a question for Israel to answer. They haven’t made a decision that I’m aware of. The War Cabinet is meeting now. Our mission right now is in support of defending Israel, and that’s what you saw us do on Saturday.”
Hemmer followed up, “If Benjamin Netanyahu asked the United States for help, would we answer that call?”
Singh responded, “I’m just not going to get into hypotheticals or conversations that we’re having in private channels, what I can tell you is what we’ve reiterated publicly and privately is that we do not seek war with Iran, we do not want to see this widen out to a broader regional conflict.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett