US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to reporters about the war between Israel and Hamas and the situation in Gaza as he boards his aircraft to depart Washington on travel to the Middle East and Asia at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, November 2, 2023.
Reuters
If Iran had any doubts about US resolve in the Middle East, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, with an assist from the Pentagon, spent the weekend reinforcing the notion that the United States was not going anywhere.
During a quick trip to the region, Blinken repeatedly warned Iran against using its proxies to widen the conflict between Israel and Hamas, while in an unusual move, the US Central Command, which oversees American forces in the region, on Sunday announced that a nuclear-powered attack submarine was traveling through the region.
The submarine added to the already considerable US firepower steaming through the waters around the Middle East, and Central Command, as if flaunting the vessel's deployment, went so far as to post on X, formerly known as Twitter, a photo of it in the region.
The most important progress, however, occurred out of public view. US allies in the Middle East have played a crucial role in preventing Iran and its proxies from expanding the war. Blinken sought to maintain those efforts during his trip, which included stops in Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey.
"Countries are very much engaged in trying to make sure that that doesn't happen," Blinken said Monday after meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara, the capital.
Blinken added: "Sometimes the absence of something bad happening may not be the most obvious evidence of progress, but it is."
Heading off any escalation by Iran or its proxies in the region is a priority for US officials. The roughly 3,500 US troops in Iraq and Syria have already been subjected to more than 40 drone and rocket attacks by Iran-aligned militias since Hamas invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, and a wider regional conflict would probably draw US forces deeper into the fight.
The United States, citing retaliation for the rocket and drone attacks against US forces, carried out two airstrikes last week on sites in eastern Syria that it said were used by Iran and its proxies.
But beyond emphasizing the stakes of any escalation to Iran, Blinken's trip appeared to have far more mixed results. While US officials said the Israelis appeared to be willing to allow a sharp expansion in humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, they have had less success persuading Israel to show more military restraint in an attempt to reduce the number of civilian casualties.
At the same time, the United States' most important Arab allies, including Jordan and Egypt, have started to put real pressure on the Biden administration to rein in the Israelis, fearful that the conflict could destabilize their countries. The constant stream of images of dead Palestinians has been stoking widespread anger, and Arab leaders affirmed privately to Blinken that their public talk of a cease-fire wasn't hollow. They need one immediately, they told Blinken.