3 weeks ago
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In calls with Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the recent escalation in the Middle East amid Iran’s ongoing threats against Israel.
According to the State Department, Blinken told Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry that “an escalation by Iran would not benefit anyone in the region.”
The two sides also addressed the conflict in Gaza and discussed ways to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into the war-torn enclave and to achieve an immediate ceasefire conducive to the release of all Hamas’s hostages.
Earlier on Friday, Blinken also spoke with Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi, stressing “the urgent need to avoid further escalation in the region by Iran,” the State Department said.
Ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel was another pivotal issue addressed in the phone call. In the case of finalization, an at least six-week truce is to be declared in the region which would see the release of Israelis held captive by the Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
Over the past days, there have been widespread and intensive international consultations to prevent the intensification of tensions in the Middle East. Since Israel’s deadly April 1 attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Iranian regime officials have time and again vowed reprisals.
On Wednesday, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq and UAE contacted their Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, at the request of the US, in an attempt to persuade Tehran to avoid a direct confrontation with Israel.
Germany's Lufthansa and its subsidiary Austrian Airlines have suspended their flights to Tehran after reports confirmed that Iran’s attack on Israel seems imminent.
