We are about to pause this live coverage.

• For more reporting on the drone attack, you can click here.
• If you are looking for context on why US troops are in Jordan, check out this article.
• And North America Editor Sarah Smith has written about how Joe Biden's response to the attack could impact the 2024 election.

Our writers today have been Chloe Kim, Emily Atkinson, Christy Cooney, Sam Hancock, Bernd Debusmann and Olivia Otigbah.

This page was edited by Francesca Gillett, Andrew Humphrey, Nathan Williams and Brandon Livesay.

The deadly drone attack on Sunday has been the major political discussion point in Washington, DC on Monday.

We had briefings from the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department. Here's what we learned.

• The Department of Defense named the three soldiers killed in the attack as William Jerome Rivers, 46; Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24; and Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23.
• All three were from an army reserve unit based in Georgia and were in the region as part of Operation Inherent Resolve against the Islamic State.
• The number of people injured in the attack is now more than 40
• Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said Iran “have their fingerprints" on the attack and continue to "arm and equip" militia groups to attack US positions.
• National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said "We do not seek another war. We do not seek to escalate. But we will absolutely do what is required to protect ourselves".
• He declined to offer further specifics on the likely US response. "I'm not going to telegraph punches," he said. "The president will choose for himself how he wants to respond."
• A US official told BBC's US partner CBS News that the drone appeared to be Iranian-made

Frank Gardner
BBC News, Security Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Washington now finds itself facing a dilemma.

President Joe Biden has promised a strong response to Sunday's deadly attack on a US military base in Jordan. But the challenge for the US is to find the right balance between deterrence and escalation.

Fail to act decisively and it risks sending a message of weakness that will only encourage more attacks. Act too forcefully and it could trigger an escalatory response from Iran and its allies.

So what are the options? And how does this work?

The US will already have a number of "on-the-shelf" military options to choose from.

These have been drawn up by the US Department of Defense with intelligence input from the CIA and the National Security Agency. They are then presented to the US National Security Council and policymakers, with the president making the final decision and signing off on the chosen course.

There are three options - more here.

Congressman Seth Moulton says the US response to the attack on its Tower 22 base in Jordan must send "a clear, decisive message" to both the militia groups in the region and their backers.

Speaking to BBC News, the Democrat lawmaker says the response must also be "politically calculated to ensure that the message of deterrence gets through", particularly to Iran.

"We don't want to empower the warmakers in Iran. That would be playing into our enemy's hands," he says.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group for Iran-backed militia, claimed responsibility for the attack, which left three dead.

Iran denies involvement in the attack, calling accusations to the contrary "baseless".

US congressman Don Bacon has told BBC News that Iran is the "head of the snake" and it must "pay a price".

The Republican lawmaker urged the US to take "firm action against Iran".

His comments come after a US official told CBS News the drone used to attack American soldiers appears to be Iranian-made. An umbrella group for Iran-backed militia called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.

Bacon told BBC News that a retaliation against proxy forces would not worry Iran.

"They don't care. Iran does care when they get a black eye or a bloody nose," he said.

Bacon suggested US attacks on "things like oil terminals, where we could maybe shut down the export of their energy, or maybe some of their navy targets that are on the coastline".

He says Iran doesn't "fear us" and there needs to be a "deterrence".

Image source, Department of Defense

We can bring you more details now of the three American troops, described as "incredible soldiers", killed in a drone attack on a US military base in Jordan.

William J. Rivers, 46, from Carrollton, Georgia, first enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2011 as an interior electrician.

His awards and decorations include the army achievement medal, national defence service medal, global war on terrorism service medal, and the inherent resolve campaign medal with campaign star.

Kennedy L. Sanders, 24, a resident of Waycross, Georgia, joined the Army Reserve in 2019 as a horizontal construction engineer.

Her awards and decorations include the global war on terrorism service medal, overseas service ribbon, and the armed forces reserve medal with “M” device.

Breonna A. Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia, also joined the Army Reserve in 2019.

Her awards include the national defense service medal and the army service ribbon.

The BBC's US partner CBS has been told by a US official that it appears the drone used in the attack against a US base in Jordan was Iranian-made.

It was a type of Shahed drone - a one-way attack drone Iran has been providing to Russia - according to the US official.

Iran has denied involvement, earlier saying it was "not involved in the decision making of resistance groups".

An umbrella group for Iran-backed militia, which calls itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, has claimed responsibility for the attack. Three US soldiers were killed and more than 40 were injured.

Washington under strain as it plans next movepublished at 22:04 Greenwich Mean Time 29 January

22:04 GMT 29 January

Tom Bateman
Reporting from Washington, DC

I’ve just come out of the press briefing with Antony Blinken at the US State Department.

He said there would be a “decisive” response to the deadly strikes on American troops, adding it could be “multi-levelled” and come “in stages”.

He also reiterated a line made about the Houthi strikes on shipping - that the attacks have “nothing to do with” the Israel-Hamas war. This claim, for many, stretches credulity. But it is one the US feels compelled to repeat.

Washington is under growing strain as it tries to hold its line in the Middle East: On the one hand continuing to provide a political and diplomatic shield for Israel’s offensive in Gaza, four months on from the October 7 attacks by Hamas; while on the other trying to prevent it spiralling into a regional conflict.

This has become acutely more difficult, and dangerous, especially given levels of outrage in the Arab and Muslim world over the numbers of civilians Israel has killed.

The US has been using up political capital trying to dampen down the spill over from Gaza. Iran-backed groups may have been trying to exploit this - they’ve been seeing how hard they can push things.

Tehran may also calculate that attacks by allied militias adds to pressure the US will put on Israel to scale things back, or ultimately come to a deal with Hamas (hostages for a permanent ceasefire).

Washington has to calibrate its next move: To deter fatal attacks on its own forces but still not widen the war. Absent an end to the fighting in Gaza, it’s hard to see how much longer America can hold its line successfully.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

A delayed US response to the drone attack in Jordan is "not helpful" and allows potential targets to prepare, according to a former high-ranking Pentagon official.

Mick Mulroy - who is also a former US Marine and CIA paramilitary officer - told the BBC he believes that the US "will have to respond with more force and be more costly to Iran and its proxies" to "establish deterrence" in the region.

In addition to strikes on Iranian-backed groups in Syria and elsewhere, Mulroy said that potential targets could include Iranian "leadership", command and control facilities and storage facilities set up outside Iran.

"A clear warning should be sent through backchannels that targets in Iran could be next if these attacks continue," he said, arguing that such a strike could lead to "calibration" short of a wider conflict.

A delayed response, however, could give Iran and its Revolutionary Guard Corps "time to move high-value assets like planes and leadership to safe areas".

"We should have targets ready to go immediately once we determine what happened and who did it," Mulroy added.

Let's check back in with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is still speaking at a briefing with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Blinken says that while he's "not going to get ahead of where the president is" on the US response to the attack in Jordan, he indicates it "could well be multi-levelled, it could come in stages, and it could well be sustained over time".

Some more details now from the Department of Defense, which recently released photographs of Sgt. William Rivers, Spc. Kennedy Sanders, and Spc. Breonna Moffett, the three soldiers killed in the attack in Jordan.

Lt. Gen. Jody Daniels, the Chief of the Army Reserve, said their deaths had "left an indelible mark on the United States Army Reserve".

“On behalf of the Army Reserve, I share in the sorrow felt by their friends, family, and loved ones. Their service and sacrifice will not be forgotten, and we are committed to supporting those left behind in the wake of this tragedy," Daniels said.

Image source, Department of Defense

Image source, Department of Defense

Image source, Department of Defense

Image source, DoD

The US Department of Defense has released photos of the three Army Reserve soldiers who were killed in the drone attack in Jordan.

Image source, Reuters

Turning our attention now to the US State Department, where top US diplomat Antony Blinken is holding a joint press conference with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

He begins with a short statement on the drone attack on a US military base near the Syria-Jordan border that killed three American troops.

Like others in Washington, he accuses Iran-backed militia of launching the deadly attack on Tower 22, north east of Jordan.

"First and foremost, I'm thinking of those who lost their lives, the wounded and their families and friends," he says.

In a warning to "anyone looking to take advantage of conflict in the Middle East", Blinken says: "Don't do it".

"The president has been crystal clear: we will respond decisively to any aggression and we will hold responsible the people who attacked our troops." he says, adding: "We will do so at a time and place of our choosing."

Image source, Joe Biden/ X

US President Joe Biden has vowed to hold all those responsible for a deadly drone attack on a US base in Jordan to account "at a time and in a manner of our choosing".

He shared the remarks on X, external alongside a photo of himself and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin inside the situation room, where the pair attended a briefing earlier today about the Tower 22 attack.

That's the end of the update from US Defense Department Deputy Spokesperson Sabrina Singh.

Before the briefing ended, Singh said there have been 165 attacks aimed at US personnel and sites from 17 October to 29 January.

Stay with us as we continue to bring you the latest updates.

Pentagon spokeswoman Singh adds that the number of people known to have been injured in the attack is now more than 40.

“We do expect that number to continue to fluctuate as our service members with [traumatic brain injuries] report symptoms later on,” she adds.

“So that number could continue to grow.”

The Pentagon’s deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh tells the Pentagon news conference that the attack was carried out by a militia backed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and that Iran “have their fingerprints on this”.

“We know that Iran is behind it. Iran continues to arm and equip these groups to launch these attacks,” she says.

“I don’t have more to share in terms of an intelligence assessment on if leaders in Iran were directing this attack, but what I can tell you is that we know these groups are supported by Iran.”

Iran has denied any involvement and said it was "not involved in the decision making of resistance groups".

The US Department of Defense has announced the names of the three soldiers who were killed in Sunday's attack.

During a news conference on Monday, the Pentagon said the three came from an army reserve unit based in Georgia and were:

• Sgt William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Georgia
• Spc Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Georgia
• Spc Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia

They were all supporting Operation Inherent Resolve and had been assigned to the 718th Engineer Company, 926th Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade, Fort Moore, Georgia.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

For those of you just joining us, we've just heard from National Security Council spokesman John Kirby about the US response to the attack in Jordan.

Kirby provided few details about what the US response will be and what options the White House and Pentagon are looking at, arguing that providing that information would "telegraph" US moves to armed groups overseas.

It is clear, however, that the White House views American dead and wounded as a significant escalation by Iranian-backed groups in the region that requires a forceful response.

Going forward, the challenge for the White House will be on how to balance any response with its desire - which Kirby mentioned several times - to avoid further escalation and a wider conflict with Iran.

While the news briefing is still ongoing, Kirby has left and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre moved on to other matters, particularly the US-Mexico border.

The Pentagon's press briefing is going to start any moment now - with yesterday's attack in Jordan likely to be top of the agenda.

You can watch the briefing by pressing Play above.

Earlier we heard from Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, who's been hosting Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg in Washington DC for talks. He said he and Biden "will not tolerate attacks on US forces and we will take all necessary actions to defend the US and our troops".