Flurry of diplomacy to ease Mideast tensions as Israel awaits Iran attack

Vehicles drive past a huge banner showing the late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, left, who was killed in an assassination last week, joining hands with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in a square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024.

Diplomatic pressure mounted Monday to avert an escalation between Iran and Israel following high-profile killings that have sent regional tensions soaring.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that the United States was working around the clock to prevent escalation in the Middle East and urged Israel and Hamas to "break this cycle" of violence through a ceasefire.

With Iran believed to be planning a retaliatory strike against Israel following the killing of  top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Blinken said that escalation would "only lead to more conflict, more violence, more insecurity."

"We are engaged in intense diplomacy, pretty much around the clock, with a very simple message — all parties must refrain from escalation," he said as he met Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

"It's also critical that we break this cycle by reaching a ceasefire in Gaza," Blinken said.

He said a ceasefire "will unlock possibilities for more enduring calm, not only in Gaza itself, but in other areas where the conflict could spread."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Sunday that his country was "determined to stand against" Iran and its allied armed groups "on all fronts".

Palestinian armed group Hamas's political leader Haniyeh was killed in Tehran last week in an attack blamed on Israel, which has not directly commented on it.

The killing came hours after an Israeli strike on Beirut killed the military chief of Lebanon's Hezbollah...