US and Allies Make Last-Minute Push to Avert All-Out Mideast War

(Bloomberg) -- The US and its allies worked to head off an Iranian attack on Israel and avert a wider regional war as concerns grew that a strike may come at any moment in retaliation for the killing of a top Hamas leader in Tehran. 

The Biden administration moved additional forces to the region and Secretary of State Antony Blinken conferred with top officials from Qatar and Egypt — the two countries helping lead negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas militants — on Monday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. 

The focus has been to prepare for and possibly blunt an attack by Iran, which has warned it will respond after blaming Israel for killing a top Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in a government guest house in Tehran on July 31. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for Haniyeh’s death, even as the country’s armed forces said another operation on Sunday killed a top Hamas commander, Jaber Aziz.

“The secretary has delivered a consistent message in all of these engagements — we are at a critical moment for the region, and it is important that all parties take steps over the coming days to refrain from escalation and calm tensions,” Miller said.

The US push was only one element of a broader effort by officials who sought to head off tit-for-tat escalation between Iran and Israel that could push the region into all-out regional war.

Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi made a rare trip to Iran over the weekend, meeting Iran’s acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani. President Joe Biden also spoke with King Abdullah II of Jordan on Monday, according to the White House. Qatar, which has mediated between Iran and the US in the past, has also been in contact with the Islamic Republic, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

In Israel, the patience of some is wearing thin after days of awaiting promised reprisals by Iran and its proxies. One top lawmaker even proposed preemption.

“It is beneath our dignity to sit fretting rather than to take the initiative,” Yuli Edelstein, head of parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and a senior member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party, said in a speech. “We know how to do that, and we should be doing that.”

For its part, Iran reaffirmed that it wants to avoid all-out war with Israel, while again vowing to retaliate. 

“Reinforcing stability and security in the region will be achieved by punishing the aggressor and creating deterrence against Israel and its adventurism,” a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry told reporters on Monday in Tehran. The Islamic Republic doesn’t want to escalate tensions but has the right to punish Israel under international law, he added.

The surge in tensions, almost 10 months into the war in Hamas-ruled Gaza, has scared many foreign airlines from the skies of Israel and neighboring Lebanon, where Hezbollah holds sway. The Pentagon has beefed up its Middle East presence, including with missile-interceptor warships.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group is in the Gulf of Oman with an air wing that bristles with F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter jets and other advanced aircraft. The carrier is accompanied by three destroyers capable of land attack and air defense — the USS Daniel Inouye, USS Michael Murphy and USS Russell.

Israel says its forces are on hair-trigger alert to carry out defensive and offensive missions. 

Command Bunker

Israel has activated a command bunker beneath the Jerusalem hills in anticipation of a major Iranian-orchestrated attack, an Israeli official said.

The “National Management Center,” a bunker located under the government complex in Jerusalem with an access point in the city’s western foothills, has been activated to enable decision-making in wartime, according to the official, who discussed the move on condition of anonymity.

The US is pressing Netanyahu to redouble efforts to reach a cease-fire deal with Hamas over their war in Gaza. The US and Arab states believe an end to fighting in the Palestinian territory would calm the region.

General Michael Kurilla, head of US Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, was in Israel on Monday for talks. Kurilla “held a joint situational assessment on security and strategic issues, as well as joint preparations in the region,” according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu visited Iran for talks with new President Masoud Pezeshkian and other officials on Monday. It was unclear whether Shoigu, regarded as one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies, urged Tehran to restrain its response to Israel.

Nasser Kanaani, the spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry, warned of “consequences” for any country supporting Israel, a message apparently aimed at the US and its allies as they rally to defend the Jewish state. 

Israel is in a “multi-front war against Iran’s axis of evil,” Netanyahu said on Sunday. “We are striking every one of its arms with great force. We are prepared for any scenario – both offensively and defensively.”

--With assistance from Alberto Nardelli, Fiona MacDonald, Ethan Bronner and Akayla Gardner.

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