After Iran fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday, top Biden administration officials offered conflicting messages regarding whether the United States would support a counterattack against Iran. 

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan took a tough stance, praising cooperation between the U.S. and Israel in striking down the attack and vowing that Iran will face “severe consequences” for its ballistic missile attack on Israel the day before the start of Rosh Hashanah. 

“We have made clear that there will be consequences, severe consequences, for this attack, and we will work with Israel to make that the case,” Sullivan said from the White House podium in the afternoon. 

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller echoed Sullivan’s position.

“Of course there must be consequences for Iran for this attack. We’ve made clear that there must be consequences. I’m not going to get into what those consequences are today,” he said at a Tuesday press briefing. 

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who spent the afternoon in the Situation Room monitoring the attack, did not say what kind of response the Iranians should expect.

Biden directed the U.S. military to work with the Israel Defense Forces in shooting down the Iranian missiles, resulting in the onslaught being “defeated and ineffective,” he said. “Make no mistake, the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel.” When asked what he thinks the consequences for Iran should be, Biden said it “remains to be seen.”

Later in the day, Harris delivered brief remarks about the Iranian attack. 

“I condemn this attack unequivocally. I am clear-eyed: Iran is a destabilizing, dangerous force in the Middle East and today’s attack on Israel only further demonstrates that attack,” Harris said. Like Biden, Harris avoided outlining what a U.S. response should look like.

“We will continue to work with our allies and partners to disrupt Iran’s aggressive behavior and hold them accountable,” said Harris. 

By the evening, though, a statement posted by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on X offered a more muted take that expressed a desire for diplomacy. His post made no mention of any American or Israeli response to the Iranian attack. 

“The United States remains committed to pushing for a diplomatic solution, avoiding further expansion of the conflict and to protecting our personnel and facilities in the region,” Austin wrote after a phone call with the French minister of the armed forces. Earlier in the day, before Iran’s attack, Austin had also warned of “severe consequences.” 

Before the Iranian attack, the White House had telegraphed the need for calm in the Middle East. On Monday, soon after Israeli plans to mount a limited ground invasion of Lebanon became public, Biden was asked if he knew about Israel’s plans to enter Lebanon. “I’m more aware than you might know and I’m comfortable with them stopping. We should have a cease-fire now,” Biden said.

Last week, the U.S. joined with European and Arab allies to present a plan for a three-week cease-fire on Israel’s northern border in a bid to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah with a diplomatic solution.

But Iran’s attack, viewed as a response to Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last week and its killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, may have changed the calculus — for now — on Washington’s approach toward the growing conflict in the Middle East.