WASHINGTON DC (WSAU) – President Joe Biden has informed the families of the three U.S. soldiers killed in Jordan earlier this week that he will indeed attend the dignified body transfer at Dover Air Force Base after initially signaling that he may not be able to attend.
According to the New York Post, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby made headlines on Monday when he told reporters that he didn’t “have anything on [the president’s] schedule to speak to” when asked if Biden would be attending the event in honor of Sgt. William Rivers, Spc. Brianna Moffatt, and Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders.
Those comments were walked back by Kirby on Tuesday afternoon when he confirmed the president had spoken with the families, saying, “The president had an opportunity this morning to speak with the family members of the three service members who were tragically killed in this attack. He was grateful for their time.”
“In that conversation, he also gauged their feelings about him going into the dignified transfer in Dover on Friday. All of them supported his presence there. And so the president will be going to the dignified transfer on Friday,” Kirby continued.
Outlets, such as Politico, have reported that the Biden administration’s ongoing planning of a retaliatory strike against Iranian proxies was the main reason for the uncertainty behind his attendance. They note that the possibility of U.S. forces attacking Iranian personnel in Syria and Iraq or Iranian naval assets in the Persian Gulf is on the table.
These reports come after the public recently learned that the White House told Congress in December that a small number of U.S. personnel are currently deployed in Yemen as IRG (Iranian Revolutionary Guard) top commanders and advisors are in the country advising Houthi forces on attacks on U.S. shipping and commercial vessels in the Red Sea, according to Semafor.
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