Biden emphasized that his country "does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world".
Iran called US air strikes on Iraq and Syria a “strategic mistake” after Friday, 2 February, 85 targets were hit throughout the region.
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The US retaliated against a drone attack on a US military base last week that killed three US soldiers.
The White House blamed the drone attack on an Iran-backed militant group. The US and UK also launched a new round of joint strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday, February 3.
Iran's Foreign Ministry said strikes on Iraq and Syria “will have no effect other than increasing tension and instability in the region.” Earlier, Iraq said that US retaliatory strikes would lead to “catastrophic consequences” for the region.
Iraqi authorities said the strikes killed at least 16 people, including civilians. A spokesman for the Iraqi prime minister said the strikes were a “violation” of his country's sovereignty and that they would affect the “security and stability of Iraq and the region.”
At the same time, Syria said that the US “occupation” of Syrian territory “cannot continue.” The US has struck the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militias in Iraq and Syria, according to a US military statement.
Several American aircraft were involved in the strike, including long-range bombers flown from the United States. According to the US military, strikes were carried out at seven locations – four in Syria and three in Iraq – and hit more than 85 targets. There were no strikes on Iranian territory.
Following Friday's US strikes, there has been one attack on US troops in Iraq and Syria, a US defense official told CBS News.
US troops based at the Euphrates mission support base in Syria came under missile fire, but no one was injured.
President Joe Biden said American attacks “will continue at the times and places of our choosing” but added that his country “does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world.”
The strikes came after three US troops were killed and dozens wounded in a drone attack on a US base near Jordan's border with Syria.
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US officials said the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an Iran-backed militant group, was responsible for the attack. According to them, the drone was Iranian-made and similar to those supplied to Russia.
The militant organization, an umbrella group consisting of several militias, is believed to have been armed, funded and trained by the IRGC.
Iran denies any involvement in the attack on the US base, saying it “was not involved in the decisions of the resistance groups.” An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said U.S. strikes in Iraq, Syria and Yemen “only further the goals of the Zionist regime,” referring to U.S. ally Israel.
Russia called for an “urgent” meeting of the UN Security Council “due to the threat to peace and security created by US strikes in Syria and Iraq,” Moscow UN diplomat Dmitry Polyansky said on social networks . Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council, has become a close ally of Iran.
The US attacks came hours after Biden attended a repatriation ceremony for William Rivers, 46, Kennedy Sanders, 24, and Bronna Moffett, 23, who were killed in the attack last weekend. More than 40 other troops were wounded in the same drone attack that struck the US base Tower 22.
American Republicans criticized the timing of the retaliatory strikes, saying the US waited too long to retaliate. U.S. officials said any delay was due to cloudy weather preventing observation of targets.
Some foreign policy experts believe the delay allowed Iran to withdraw personnel, potentially avoiding a broader conflict between the United States and Iran.
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