The Biden administration’s Middle East envoy, Brett McGurk, asked the foreign ministers of Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to convince Tehran to lower the current tensions with Israel, according to a report by Axios.
Sources told the news outlet that Iran’s foreign ministry spoke with the senior officials of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE on Wednesday.
The desire by Washington to prevent wider conflict in the region comes as U.S. intelligence officials announced that they have found evidence of an imminent attack being prepared by the Islamic Republic against Israel in retaliation for last week’s airstrike on their diplomatic compound in Damascus.
The incursion, suspected to have been done on Jerusalem's orders, happened during a secret meeting between several leaders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and associates of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization. One of the individuals killed in the episode was the IRGC’s Syrian chief, Mohammad Zahedi.
Iran’s supreme leader, president, top general, and ambassador to Syria have all stated that some level of forceful action will be carried out in response to the incident.
The White House declined to comment on the issue.
