(NewsNation) — A retired Army general says the United States needs a “hard, credible” response to a deadly drone strike on a U.S. military base in Jordan in order to send Iran a message to stop backing proxies in the region.

“It can’t be a pinprick,” retired Army Brig. Gen. Peter Zwack said Tuesday on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”

President Joe Biden told reporters Tuesday he’s decided how the United States will retaliate for the strike that killed three U.S. service members. The White House says Iran is responsible for arming the group that carried out the strike, which the U.S. is still working to identify.

Zwack suggested the United States could be effective if it targets Shia militia groups in Iraq and Syria.

“I’m glad that we’re taking a little bit of time and getting some real mission planning going, some precision, rather than going in like an enraged bull in a China shop that could make it worse,” Zwack said.

Biden plans to attend the dignified transfer to mark the fallen troops’ return to American soil Friday and answered in the affirmative when asked by reporters if he’d decided on a response, as he indicated he was aiming to prevent further escalation.

“I don’t think we need a wider war in the Middle East,” Biden said at the White House before departing for a fundraising trip to Florida. “That’s not what I’m looking for.”

On the diplomatic front, Zwack said the United States needs to send a “back-channel message” to Tehran that it won’t tolerate further attacks.

“(We need to say) if anything like this happens again, you will see the extent of our actions, and we need to be unambiguous,” Zwack said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.