In Tehran, leaders mulled how to avenge a bold assassination attributed to Israel without sparking a wider war. In Tel Aviv, some residents hit the beach while others checked on their bomb shelters. In Beirut, families worried over how to escape, while in Washington, the Biden administration worked to limit the force of Israel’s anticipated response to Iran’s expected retaliation.
It was another tense and violent day in the Middle East’s forever war, where drone strikes and gunfights were overshadowed by the question of if and when Iran will strike Israel after the death of a top Hamas leader in Tehran.
“One of the points of the engagements that we have had is to urge countries to pass messages to Iran and urge countries to make clear to Iran that it is very much not in their interests to escalate this conflict, that is very much not in their interest to launch another attack on Israel,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters Monday.
At the same time, reports said U.S. officials were sending Israel the same message of restraint, even as American forces converged on the region to defend Israel and U.S. military bases against the expected Iranian assault.
Amid the tension, world oil prices continued to fall as fears over a widening Mideast conflict couldn’t eclipse concerns about a slowing U.S. economy.
The current crisis within a crisis started last week when Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in a bomb attack at a Tehran guest house. It was a stunning breach – a leader of one of Iran’s top proxies, slain in an exclusive enclave of the capital. Iran blamed Israel, which didn’t comment.
