US mounts diplomatic blitz to contain Iranian attack

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Aug 7, 2024

Motorists drive their vehicles past a billboard depicting Iranian missiles in Tehran on April 20, 2024, a day after Iran's state media reported explosions in the central province of Isfahan. — ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

WASHINGTON — The United States is using diplomatic back channels to warn Iran against launching an attack on Israel that could trigger a full-blown war in the Middle East.

The last-minute appeal by Washington and its partners comes a week after Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas’ political office, died in an explosion in Tehran widely attributed to Israel. A day earlier, an Israeli-claimed strike in Beirut killed senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr as retaliation for the militants’ rocket attack that killed 12 children in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

US officials fear a response by Tehran or its proxies to the twin assassinations could unleash a wider regional war and derail indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged both Iran and Israel to exercise restraint, and framed a Gaza cease-fire deal as a potential off-ramp.

“No one should escalate this conflict,” Blinken said. “We’ve been engaged in intense diplomacy with allies and partners, communicating that message directly to Iran. We communicated that message directly to Israel.”