WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has held talks with Foreign Ministers of Jordan, Egypt and Turkey in the wake of Iran’s retaliatory strikes against Israel, his office said on Monday. According to the office of the US Secretary of State, during his conversations, Blinken reiterated that the US is not seeking escalation in the region.
The development comes as Jordanian, Iraqi and Turkish officials have said that Tehran gave wide notice days before its missile and drone attack on Israel, but US authorities said Iran did not warn the US and that it was aiming to cause significant harm.
One top official in Biden’s administration denied Iran’s Foreign Minister statement, saying the US did have contact with Tehran via Swiss intermediaries but did not get notification of around 72 hours in advance.
The officials claimed that it is categorically not true and Iran did not give a notice, nor did they give any sense of … ‘these will be the potential targets, so vacate them. However, the officials said that Iran sent the US a message only following the attacks began and the intent was to be “highly damaging”. It added that Tehran’s claim of a widespread warning may be an act to compensate for the lack of any major damage from the strike.
Earlier, Jordanian, Iraqi and Turkish officials each said Tehran had provided early warning of the strike last week, including some details and information.
