Biden met in the highly secure White House Situation Room with his national security team
Washington:
US President Joe Biden held crisis talks on Monday about a potential Iranian counterattack on Israel, as his administration said it was working around the clock to avoid an all-out war in the Middle East.
Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken engaged in frenetic diplomacy to try to ease tensions triggered by an alleged Israeli attack that killed Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
The president called King Abdullah II of Jordan, who helped shoot down Iranian drones and missiles in a previous clash in April, while Blinken called senior officials in Qatar and Egypt, the main intermediaries seeking a ceasefire in the 10-month war. between Israel and Hamas.
“We are engaged in intense diplomacy, virtually 24 hours a day, with a very simple message: all parties must refrain from escalation,” Blinken said after joining other senior officials at a White House meeting.
“It is also critical that we break this cycle by reaching a ceasefire in Gaza,” said Blinken, who has also been speaking since Sunday with his G7 counterparts and the Iraqi prime minister.
On Monday, several US military personnel were injured in a rocket attack on a base in Iraq, increasing already high regional tensions.
Biden hoped, in his final months in office, to end the war in Gaza and work to reach a historic agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Instead, it reinforced the US military presence in the Middle East, in a show of force to Iran.
After firmly supporting Israel’s war against Hamas, Biden made clear his frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the assassination of Haniyeh, who was involved in the ceasefire negotiations.
Blinken, who has warned that Iran could attack soon, made a new proposal for Biden’s ceasefire plan that would freeze fighting in Gaza and return hostages captured in the Oct. 7 mega-attack on Israel by Hamas.
A ceasefire “will open up possibilities for longer-lasting calm, not just in Gaza itself, but in other areas where conflict could spread,” Blinken said when meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
In a veiled allusion to US frustrations, Blinken said: “What really matters is that all parties find ways to reach a deal, and not look for reasons to delay or say no.”
“It is urgent that all parties make the right choices in the coming hours and days,” he said.
Rising conflict fears
Biden met in the White House’s highly secure Situation Room with his national security team, including Vice President Kamala Harris.
He flew to the White House after a weekend in Delaware and, after a kiss with first lady Jill Biden, went straight to the Oval Office without commenting to reporters.
The White House said Biden and the Jordanian king in their appeal “discussed their efforts to ease regional tensions, including through an immediate ceasefire and a hostage release agreement.”
King Abdullah called for “an immediate and permanent ceasefire to put an end to the catastrophe in Gaza” and to “cease all escalatory measures,” according to a readout from the Jordanian royal court.
Iran fired directly at Israel in April, openly exposing its long-running parallel war following an attack on an Iranian diplomatic building in Syria.
The United States helped intercept the drones and missiles, and damage was minimal.
But Jordan – in a delicate position with its large Palestinian population and a peace deal with Israel – has insisted it does not want to be a battleground.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that in April, “we were able to chart a path that got us through this period without leading to a broader war.”
“But every time you have one of these escalation cycles, you run the risk of the parties miscalculating, you run the risk of them taking actions that get out of control,” Miller told reporters.
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