(NewsNation) – President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that he had made up his mind How should you answer? after the killing of three American military personnel On Sunday, his government blamed Iran-backed militia groups in a drone strike in Jordan and said it did not want to expand the war in the Middle East, but declined to provide details.

This comes as national security advisor Jake Sullivan said in September that the Middle East was calmer than it had been in two decades when he was foreign minister Antony Blinken said on Monday that the region now faces a dangerous situation not seen since at least 1973.

NewsNation’s Leland Vittert addressed the complex dynamics of Iranian influence in the Middle East and highlighted the different perspectives on the region. He explained the Biden administration’s approach, which is focused on solving the problem Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a means to address broader problems. In contrast, he presented the Iranian worldview, which sees the United States as the root of the region’s problems and includes supporting militant groups and pursuing nuclear capabilities.

In a Tuesday interview on NewsNation’s “In balance“, retired Air Force Brigadier General. Gene. Rob Spalding expressed concern about the delay in the government’s response to recent attacks. Spalding suggested focusing on the economic and financial repression of Iran, particularly targeting the personal assets of the Iranian leadership. He also stressed the need to address the influence of external actors such as China in supporting Iran.

“The Chinese support the Iranians,” Spalding said, assuring that Iran is ready to sacrifice the lives of its proxies to continue embarrassing the United States.

The general said the Biden administration’s approach mirrors that of previous administrations and attributed the delay to a possible misunderstanding of the region.

“It doesn’t matter if they’re Republicans or Democrats, you’re going to get the same thing. And that’s just a misunderstanding of the region,” he said.

Spalding claimed that the killing of Qassem Soleimani had effectively communicated the vulnerability of the Iranian regime and emphasized the importance of identifying what is important to Iran and eliminating those elements.

U.S. officials said they were still trying to determine which of several Iran-backed groups was responsible for the first killing of American troops in a wave of attacks against U.S. forces in the region since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7. Biden plans to take part in the dignified rendition on Friday to mark the return of fallen troops to American soil.

There have been a total of 166 attacks on U.S. military facilities since Oct. 18, including 67 in Iraq, 98 in Syria and now one in Jordan, a U.S. military official said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.