President Joe Biden was set to huddle with his national security team at the White House on Monday to discuss increasing friction in the Middle East as the world braces for a potential retaliation against Israel by Iran.
Not long after the Situation Room convening was originally scheduled to begin, a Defense Department spokesperson confirmed that a suspected rocket attack took place against U.S. and Coalition forces at Al Asad Airbase in Iraq, appearing to injure several U.S. personnel.
The meeting followed a series of calls by administration officials and the president himself to foreign leaders in recent days focused on de-escalation in the region, as Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah trade attacks and Iran pledges revenge on Israel for a strike in its capital city that killed a top Hamas leader.
Earlier on Monday, Biden spoke over the phone with Jordan’s King Abdullah II to discuss efforts to calm tensions in the Middle East, including, according to the White House readout of the call, with an “immediate ceasefire and hostage release deal.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meanwhile, spoke on Monday with the Qatari prime minister and Egyptian foreign minister, conversations in which State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller referred to as “the latest in a series of diplomatic engagements he has held over the past few days with counterparts in the region and around the world.”
Over the weekend, the secretary also discussed the situation with the Group of Seven foreign ministers, the Iraqi prime minister and the French and United Kingdom foreign ministers individually.
“The secretary has delivered a consistent message in all of these engagements: we are in a critical moment for the region and it is important that all parties take steps in the coming days to refrain from escalation and calm tensions,” Miller said at Monday’s State Department press briefing. “Escalation is in no one’s interest.”
It comes as the Pentagon on Friday announced it was moving U.S. resources to the region in a bid to “increase support for the defense of Israel, and to ensure the United States is prepared to respond to various contingencies.”
And the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon on Saturday warned American citizens in the country who do not leave the area to prepare contingency plans and be ready to shelter in place. The embassy encouraged those who wish to depart to “book any ticket available to them,” noting that several airlines have suspended or canceled flights.
Long-standing concerns about an escalating conflict in the region hit a fever pitch last week after Israel took credit for killing a Hezbollah commander in the Lebanese capital of Beirut. Not long after, Iran and Hamas said the Palestinian militant group’s top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in a strike in Tehran, swiftly blaming Israel. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the move but Iran has pledged “revenge” on with the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei referring to it as his country’s “duty.”
The U.S. along with Egypt and Qatar have been working for weeks to put into place the first stage of a multi-phase plan laid out by Biden in May that ultimately hopes to end the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Biden acknowledged last week that the killing of the Hamas leader last week didn’t help efforts to get the ceasefire and hostage release sealed.
Asked over the weekend whether Iran would stand down from attacking, Biden told reporters “I hope so, I don’t know.”
Iran carried out an unprecedented direct strike on Israel in April in response to Israel killing two Iranian generals in Damascus but the exchange of strikes avoided escalating into a wider conflict as the U.S. urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to be cautious.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, also participated in the meeting on Monday.