Aug. 13 (UPI) — Rising tensions among Iran and its proxies and Israel forced U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday to postpone a planned trip to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
Blinken postponed the diplomatic trip due to security concerns as Iran threatened to retaliate against Israel for the recent killings of the top Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.
Blinken was scheduled to help broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and to prevent a significant escalation of regional conflict between Iran, Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah in the Middle East.
Blinken’s itinerary included stops in Israel, Egypt and Qatar while trying to get Hamas leaders to resume cease-fire and hostage-release negotiations to end the war in Gaza.
The negotiations were to resume Thursday, but newly appointed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has demanded Israel stop it military campaign before resuming talks.
U.S. officials have said a cease-fire deal is close to being finalized but no formal agreement has been reached to stop fighting in Gaza.
Iranian officials refuse to stand down to enable negotiations to continue or to prevent a widening military conflict in the Middle East despite a joint request from governmental leaders in the United States, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.
“Iran is determined to defend its sovereignty and national security,” Iranian Ministry of Foreign affairs spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a prepared statement Tuesday.
Kanaani accused Israel of violating international law by engaging in alleged genocide and other war crimes while waging war on Hamas in Gaza.
Iranian and Hamas officials say Israel assassinated former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh while he was staying at a hotel in Tehran and after he returned from an inaugural ceremony for Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian
U.S and Israeli officials have said that they anticipate a retaliatory strike from Iran sometime this week.
