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Al-Arabia – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his G7 counterparts that Iran and Hezbollah could start attacking Israel in the next 24-48 hours, Axios reported on Sunday citing three sources briefed on the call.
Blinken, according to Axios, said it was unclear how Iran and Hezbollah would carry out the attack and did not know the exact timing.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson on Monday said it is not looking to escalate regional tensions but believes Tehran needs to punish Israel to prevent further instability.
The US and other countries in the region are trying to prevent an all-out war in the Middle East after tensions escalated last week following the assassination by Israel of Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut and the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran for which the group deems Israel responsible. Israel has not claimed or denied responsibility.
According to Axios, Blinken emphasized that the US believes an attack could start as early as Monday, but unlike the Iranian attack against Israel on April 13 wherein Iran launched nearly 350 attack drones and missiles toward Israel and the US and Israel intercepted most of them, this time Blinken said it’s unclear what form the retaliation will take.
The G7 nations urged restraint and de-escalation in the Middle East on Monday, saying that recent events “threatened to ignite a broader conflict in the region.”
The group of seven nations said, “all involved parties once again to refrain from perpetuating the current destructive cycle of retaliatory violence, to lower tensions and engage constructively toward de-escalation,” in a statement.
There are mounting fears that Israel’s war against Palestinian militants in Gaza, which began last October, could escalate into a wider Middle East conflict. Iran and Hamas have blamed Israel for Haniyeh’s killing, and they, together with Hezbollah, have vowed revenge.
The Pentagon said on Friday it would deploy additional fighter jets and Navy warships to the region.
“The overall goal is to turn the temperature down in the region, deter and defend against those attacks, and avoid regional conflict,” Jonathan Finer, White House National Security Council deputy adviser, said on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”
The US and Israel are preparing for every possibility, Finer added.
US President Joe Biden on Saturday expressed hope that Iran would stand down despite its threat to avenge Haniyeh’s killing.
Biden will convene his national security team in the situation room on Monday to discuss developments in the Middle East, the White House said, adding that he would speak with Jordan’s King Abdullah II as well.
Haniyeh’s death was one in a series of killings of senior Hamas figures in the Gaza war – with nearly 40,000 Palestinians killed, according to Gaza’s health ministry – and it fueled concern that the conflict in Gaza was turning into a wider Middle East conflict.
The US and international partners including France, Britain, Italy and Egypt continued diplomatic contacts seeking to prevent further regional escalation.
Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, traveled to Iran on Sunday in a rare visit to discuss regional developments with his Iranian counterpart, Iranian state media reported.
Meanwhile violence continued on Sunday in the Palestinian territories.
At least 25 Palestinians were killed and several others injured on Sunday in an Israeli strike targeting two schools that were sheltering displaced people near Gaza City on Sunday, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said.
Another strike hit a tent inside a hospital compound in central Gaza, killing at least five people, Gaza health officials said, after another round of talks ended without result.
