President Obama on Friday condemned a series of attacks in Paris and promised France the full support of the United States.
“Once again, we’ve seen an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians,” he said in a statement at the White House. “This is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share.”
The president pledged the U.S. would provide assistance to the French government as it responds to the deadly attacks.
{mosads}”We’re going to do whatever it takes to work with the French people and with nations around the world to bring these terrorists to justice,” Obama said, adding the government will “go after any terrorist networks that go after our people.”
“Those who think they can terrorize the people of France or the values that they stand for are wrong,” the president said.
Obama’s delivered his brief statement, which lasted less than four minutes, as events were still unfolding in Paris.
Dozens of people were killed and many more were wounded in the most deadly terror attacks in France’s modern history.
Obama was briefed on the events by counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco, but he declined to say who might be responsible for the attacks.
“Until we know from French officials the situation is under control … I don’t want to speculate,” he said.
Obama said he purposely did not call French President Francois Hollande because “the situation is still unfolding.” The two leaders spoke earlier in the day ahead of the Group of 20 summit in Antalya, Turkey.
The president said he would contact Hollande in the coming days to coordinate a response, but said U.S. officials have reached out to French authorities “to communicate our deepest condolences.”
“This is a heartbreaking situation, and obviously those of us here in the United States know what it’s like, we’ve gone through these kind of episodes ourselves,” Obama said.
The president is scheduled to travel to Paris at the end of the month to attend a climate change summit with other world leaders. He did not answer shouted questions about whether he was considering a change of plans.
– Updated at 6:38 p.m.