Biden expects Iran to attack Israel 'sooner than later'

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Israel attacks Hezbollah targets in Lebanon

Israeli fighter jets struck Hezbollah military compounds in southern Lebanon

President Biden said he expects Iran to attack Israel "sooner than later" as tensions continue to heighten between the Middle East powers. 

Biden was asked Friday how imminent a potential attack on Israel is from Tehran following an Israeli strike on Iran's Damascus consulate in Syria. Iranian officials have publicly threatened to attack Israel for the airstrike. 

"I don't want to get into secure information, but my expectation [is] sooner than later," he replied.

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President Biden said he expects Iran to attack Israel and tensions will continue to flare between the two nations.  (Jacquelyn Martin/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"We are devoted to the defense of Israel," he added. "We will support Israel. We will defend, help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed."

When asked what his message to Tehran was, Biden simply said: "Don't." When he was asked to elaborate, he walked away. 

Sirens sound

Meanwhile, sirens blared in northern Israel on Friday as 40 "launches were identified crossing from Lebanese territory, some of which were intercepted," the Israel Defense Forces said. 

"Earlier this evening, the IDF Aerial Defense Array successfully intercepted two Hezbollah explosive UAVs that had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory," the IDF said. 

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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Getty Images)

Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, has sent rockets into Israel on a daily basis since Oct. 7. 

US assets on the move

The U.S. was moving "additional assets" to the Middle East region "to bolster regional deterrence efforts and increase force protection for U.S. forces," a U.S. defense official told Fox News on Friday.

"I would just say that we're watching this very, very closely," U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told reporters on Friday. "We still deemed the potential threat by Iran here to be real, to be viable, certainly credible, and we're watching it as closely as we can." 

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"Right now, our focus is on having a conversation with our Israeli counterparts and making sure not just conversations, but making sure that they have what they need and that they're able to defend themselves," Kirby added. "We're also clear it would be imprudent if we didn't take a look at our own posture in the region to make sure that we're properly prepared as well."

French families recalled

Amid fears of military escalation in the Middle East, Stephane Sejourne, the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, has agreed to recall the families of French diplomats based in Tehran. 

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Sejourne attended a crisis meeting where she also agreed that French citizens were to be advised to refrain from traveling to Iran, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories in the coming days and the pause of missions by French civil servants in those same countries, a French Embassy spokesperson told Fox News.

Fox News Digital's Peter Aitken contributed to this report.