{"id":2225090,"date":"2024-04-19T10:29:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T14:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blinken-us-committed-to-de-escalating-israel-iran-tensions-following-israeli-retaliation\/"},"modified":"2024-04-19T10:31:56","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T14:31:56","slug":"blinken-us-committed-to-de-escalating-israel-iran-tensions-following-israeli-retaliation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blinken-us-committed-to-de-escalating-israel-iran-tensions-following-israeli-retaliation\/","title":{"rendered":"Blinken asserts US dedication to reducing Israel-Iran tensions after Israeli response"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fblinken-us-committed-to-de-escalating-israel-iran-tensions-following-israeli-retaliation%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2225090&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed the US commitment to \u200d<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-response-to-putin-debate-challenge-shows-weakness-white-house-continues-to-deflect-amid-ramped-up-rhetoric-from-china-nk-and-russia\/\" title=\"Biden response to Putin debate challenge shows weakness, White House continues to deflect amid ramped up rhetoric from China, NK and Russia\">de-escalate tensions<\/a> between Israel and Iran after Israel&#8217;s retaliatory strike. Israel \u2062targeted a military site in central Iran following Iran&#8217;s attack\u2064 on Israel. The measured response showcases \u2062Israel&#8217;s new \u2064approach in targeting Iranian locations.\u2062 Blinken clarified US non-involvement in the strike and emphasized the importance of calming tensions. \u2063International voices also advocate for de-escalation\u200d to prevent further conflict.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Secretary of State <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/antony-blinken\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Antony Blinken<\/a> said the United States is focused on de-escalating the heightened tension between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/israel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Israel<\/a> and Iran following the former\u2019s retaliatory attack on the latter.<\/p>\n<p>Israel reportedly launched a strike that hit a military site in central <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/iran\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Iran<\/a> overnight early Friday morning. The strike represents a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/defense-state-departments-refusing-to-cooperate-on-examination-of-their-afghanistan-blunders-auditor-says\/\" title=\"Defense, State Departments Refusing To Cooperate On Examination Of Their Afghanistan Blunders, Auditor Says\">limited response<\/a> to Iran\u2019s unprecedented attack on Israel last week, and it demonstrates Israel\u2019s ability to hit targets within Iran\u2019s borders, which is a development given Israel\u2019s previous hesitation to aim at targets in Iran.<\/p>\n<p>Israeli officials have not publicly commented on the strike, while Iranian officials have sought to downplay its significance. Iranian state media reported that Iranian air defense systems intercepted \u201cthree small drones\u201d in Isfahan province.<\/p>\n<p>Blinken denied U.S. involvement in the strike early Friday morning, saying, \u201cThe United States has not been involved in any offensive operations,\u201d though he did not provide more details.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re committed to Israel\u2019s security. We\u2019re also committed to de-escalating \u2014 to trying to bring this tension to a close,\u201d he said, also describing Iran\u2019s attack last weekend as \u201cunprecedented in scope and scale; scope because it was a direct attack on Israel from Iran, scale because it involved more than 300 munitions including ballistic missiles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. is not the only country hoping for cooler heads to prevail. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSignificant escalation is not in\u00a0anyone\u2019s\u00a0interest,\u201d\u00a0United Kingdom\u00a0Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Friday, as did China\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, among others.<\/p>\n<p>Hours before Israel\u2019s attack, Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/04\/18\/middleeast\/iran-foreign-minister-israel-warning-intl-hnk\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>warned<\/a> it would respond to any Israeli attack \u201cimmediate[ly] and at a maximum level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration has sought to avoid the Israel-Hamas war expanding into a regional conflict, even as Israel and the U.S. engaged in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-odonnell-the-battle-of-cowpens-leadership-and-innovation-that-changed-the-course-of-the-revolutionary-war\/\" title=\"Exclusive--O'Donnell: The Battle of Cowpens, Leadership and Innovation that Changed the Course of the Revolutionary War\">limited fighting<\/a> against several other Iranian proxies. Hamas\u2019s Oct. 7 terrorist attack against Israel prompted Israel\u2019s war in Gaza and set off a series of fights between Israel and the U.S. against Iran\u2019s proxies \u2014 Hezbollah in Lebanon, militias in Iraq and Syria, and the Houthis in Yemen.<\/p>\n<p>Israel and Iran have engaged in a limited proxy battle for decades, but the events of the last couple of weeks have threatened to turn the shadow conflict into a direct war that could devolve into a regional battle.<\/p>\n<p>Tehran has consistently attacked Israel through its various proxy forces in the Middle East and has done so in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack. Israel carried out strikes on April 1 that targeted Iran\u2019s consulate in Damascus, Syria, and killed senior military officials. Iran argued this was an escalation.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In response to the consulate strike, Iran fired more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel last weekend, nearly all of which were intercepted by Israel and a coalition of allies that helped. Iran sought significant casualties and damage, but in totality, only a handful of munitions landed in Israel.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to Israel\u2019s strike, Israeli Prime Minister <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/benjamin-netanyahu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Benjamin\u00a0Netanyahu<\/a> said they would\u00a0make their \u201cown decisions\u201d\u00a0when choosing how to respond to Iran\u2019s unprecedented weekend attack.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State, emphasized the US commitment to de-escalating Israel-Iran tensions. Israel&#8217;s retaliatory strike targeted a military site in central Iran. This measured response follows Iran&#8217;s earlier attack, highlighting efforts to contain the conflict<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2671,"featured_media":2225091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24110346723247-1024x595.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2225090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24110346723247-1024x595.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2225090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2671"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2225090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2225090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2225091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2225090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2225090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2225090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}