WASHINGTON/TEHRAN - The United States does not want to go to war with Iran, a White House national security spokesman said on Sunday.

Appearing on CNN's State of the Union news program one day after Iran launched attacks against Israel, US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby was asked by host Jake Tapper if the Biden administration supports an Israeli retaliatory operation directly aimed at targets inside Iran.

Iran and allied armed groups launched coordinated drone and missile strikes on Israel late Saturday night in retaliation for an Israeli deadly assault on the Iranian consulate in Syria two weeks ago

Kirby stopped short of saying explicitly if the United States would support or oppose such a potential move by Israel.

"As the president has said many times, we don't seek a wider war in the region. We don't seek a war with Iran. And I think I'll leave it at that," he said.

Kirby seemed to be showing more restraint in his remarks. According to US media reports citing White House officials, US President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the phone Saturday night that the United States would neither participate in nor support any offensive operations by Israel against Iran.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Sunday that Iran, at this moment, no longer sought to continue its retaliatory military operation against Israel.

He made the remarks in a post on social media platform X while elaborating on the missile and drone strikes launched by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps against targets in Israel in response to the deadly Israeli attack on April 1 on the consular sections of the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital Damascus that killed seven Iranians, including two veteran commanders.

Amir-Abdollahian said, "Iran at this moment no more seeks to continue its defensive operations, but if necessary, it will not hesitate in protecting its legitimate interests against any new aggression."

Exercising its right to self-defense is indicative of Iran's responsible approach toward regional and international peace and security, the foreign minister added.

The IRGC said in two separate statements early Sunday that it had launched "tens of missiles and drones" and "successfully hit and destroyed" important military targets belonging to the Israeli army in response to "numerous Israeli crimes."

The IRGC also warned that any threat by the United States and Israel from any country would receive a reciprocal and proportionate response from Iran.

Iran and allied armed groups launched coordinated drone and missile strikes on Israel late Saturday night in retaliation for an Israeli deadly assault on the Iranian consulate in Syria two weeks ago.