On Sunday, Vice President Biden reaffirmed that Israel is a sovereign nation and, as such, has the right to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities if it so chooses:

“Look, Israel can determine for itself — it’s a sovereign nation — what’s in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else,” Biden replied. He added that this was the case, “whether we agree or not” with the Israeli view.

Biden was then asked more pointedly whether the U.S. would stand in the way if the Israelis, viewing the prospect of an Iranian nuclear bomb as a threat to the existence of the Jewish state, decided to launch a military attack against Iranian nuclear facilities.

“Look, we cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do,” he said.

Pressed further on this point with a reminder that the U.S. could impede an Israeli strike on Iran by prohibiting it from using Iraqi air space, Biden said he was “not going to speculate” beyond saying that Israel, like the U.S., has a right to “determine what is in its interests.”

Some in the media - who sensed the opportunity to yell “Gaffe!” - decided Biden had given Israel a green light to attack Iran, when he was merely stating a fact: Israel, as a sovereign nation, is not subject to U.S. control and has the authority to make its own decisions.

You’ll notice Biden said Israel had the right to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities “whether we agree or not,” which is not an endorsement but rather an indication he wouldn’t agree with said action.

Today, President Obama made clear that the U.S. would not approve of an Israeli strike on Iran:

The United States is “absolutely not” giving Israel a green light to attack Iran, U.S. President Barack Obama told CNN Tuesday.

“We have said directly to the Israelis that it is important to try and resolve this in an international setting in a way that does not create major conflict in the Middle East,” Obama said, referring to Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Nowhere did Obama refute Israel’s sovereignty. He just said the U.S. has not given the Israelis a green light to attack which is true.

That Biden was not endorsing an attack but stating an indisputable fact - that Israel technically has the right to attack Iran - was lost on Ben Smith, who writes:

There was much debate in foreign policy circles Sunday and Monday on whether Joe Biden’s apparent green light to an Israeli attack on Iran was a “hardening” of American policy, a tacit signal, or a standard-issue Biden gaffe, albeit on one of the world’s most sensitive subjects.

With President Obama firmly walking the comments back this morning, it seems pretty clear it was the latter.

Obama didn’t walk back Biden’s comments or actually dispute anything he said. It’s inevitable that Biden will make a “standard-issue Biden gaffe,” but this isn’t one of them.