Can progress on Gaza cease-fire talks help US restrain Netanyahu, hold off Iran attack?

TEL AVIV — A glimmer of hope emerged in Doha Friday after two days of Gaza cease-fire talks, with mediators presenting negotiators from Israel and Hamas with a bridging proposal that “builds on areas of agreement over the past week, and bridges remaining gaps in the manner that allows for a swift implementation of the deal.”

As two days of high-stakes negotiations in Doha on a Gaza cease-fire and hostage deal concluded Friday, Qatar announced that Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has updated his Iranian counterpart, Ali Bagheri Kani, on the state of affairs, a development that might entail a change in Tehran’s plan to attack Israel. 

Sheikh Mohammed “stressed the need for calm and de-escalation in the region,” according to the announcement, strongly suggesting that the talks were designed to provide Iran a way out of its threat to retaliate against Israel for the July 31 killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. The call also bolstered assessments that Iran's desire to avenge what it views as a humiliating challenge to its sovereignty have considerably cooled. 

“Apparently, the [military] power concentrated in the region by the United States and its partners has done its job,” a senior diplomatic source told Al-Monitor, speaking on the condition of anonymity. It seems Iran may have heard the explicit warnings by the United States and other countries, as well as the World Bank, about the economic damage Israel could inflict in response to its threatened retaliation, especially if it kills civilians.