US Leaders Call for Calm in the Middle East, Even as More Forces Head to the Region

Smoke billows on the village of Meiss El-Jabal, along Lebanon's southern border with northern Israel following Israeli bombardment on December 20, 2023, with the Israeli Manara Kibbutz seen on the background, amid increasing cross-border tensions as fighting continues with Hamas militants in the southern Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke billows on the village of Meiss El-Jabal, along Lebanon's southern border with northern Israel following Israeli bombardment on December 20, 2023, with the Israeli Manara Kibbutz seen on the background, amid increasing cross-border tensions as fighting continues with Hamas militants in the southern Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)
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US Leaders Call for Calm in the Middle East, Even as More Forces Head to the Region

Smoke billows on the village of Meiss El-Jabal, along Lebanon's southern border with northern Israel following Israeli bombardment on December 20, 2023, with the Israeli Manara Kibbutz seen on the background, amid increasing cross-border tensions as fighting continues with Hamas militants in the southern Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke billows on the village of Meiss El-Jabal, along Lebanon's southern border with northern Israel following Israeli bombardment on December 20, 2023, with the Israeli Manara Kibbutz seen on the background, amid increasing cross-border tensions as fighting continues with Hamas militants in the southern Gaza Strip. (Photo by AFP)

Calling for calm in the Middle East, top US national security leaders said Tuesday that they and allies are directly pressing Israel, Iran and others to avoid escalating the conflict, even as the US moved more troops to the region and threatened retaliation if American forces are attacked.

“It’s urgent that everyone in the region take stock of the situation, understand the risk of miscalculation, and make decisions that will calm tensions, not exacerbate them,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the close of a meeting with Australian leaders.

At the same time, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin noted the attack Monday on US forces in Iraq by an Iranian-backed militia group, which injured seven personnel, and made it clear that the US won't hesitate to respond, The AP reported.

“Make no mistake, the United States will not tolerate attacks on our personnel in the region,” Austin told reporters at a press conference after the meeting. “And we remain ready to deploy on short notice to meet the evolving threats to our security, our partners or our interests.”

He said an “Iranian-backed militia group” conducted the attack, but officials are still trying to determine which one.

Blinken and Austin met with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defense Minister Richard Marles at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, to discuss efforts to expand military cooperation and broaden diplomatic efforts in the Asia Pacific.

But they led their remarks with calls for de-escalation and support for a cease-fire. “Australia also underlines the risks to all in the region of escalation and of miscalculation,” said Wong, calling this a “decisive moment” for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.

Their comments came as Hamas named Yahya Sinwar — a masterminded of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel that set off the war — as its new leader, fueling fears that the announcement will provoke Israel and that tensions will escalate into broader war.

Tehran has also vowed revenge against Israel over the killing last week of Hamas’ top political leader in Iran, and Lebanon's Hezbollah is threatening retaliation over an Israeli strike that killed one of the group's senior commanders in Beirut.

It has all complicated efforts by American, Egyptian and Qatari mediators to salvage negotiations over the cease-fire and hostage release deal in Gaza.

Blinken said further attacks will only perpetuate conflict, adding that “we’ve been engaged in intense diplomacy with allies and partners communicating that message directly to Iran. We communicated that message directly to Israel.”

Still, Austin laid out a number of US military troops movements in recent days to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies and to safeguard US troops, including the deployments of additional fighter jets. He also said the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier will replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the region “later this month.”

According to a US official, about a dozen F/A-18 fighter jets and an E-2D Hawkeye surveillance aircraft from the USS Theodore Roosevelt flew from the Gulf of Oman to a military base in the Middle East on Monday.

The Navy jets' land-based deployment is expected to be temporary, because a squadron of Air Force F-22 fighter jets is enroute to the same base from their home station in Alaska. The roughly dozen F-22s are expected to arrive in the Middle East in the coming days, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss troop movements.

It’s not clear how long all of the aircraft will remain together at the base, and that may depend on what — if anything — happens in the next few days.

US officials released more details on Tuesday about the rocket attack that hit the military base in Iraq on Tuesday. They said five US service members and two contractors were hurt when two rockets hit the al-Asad airbase.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military personnel, said five of those injured were being treated at the airbase and two were evacuated, but all seven were in stable condition. They did not provide details on who was evacuated.

The rocket attack is the latest in what has been an uptick in strikes on US forces by Iranian-backed militias. It comes as tensions across the Middle East are spiking but is not believed to be connected to the Hezbollah and Hamas killings.



No Aid Supplies Left and Staff Starving in Gaza, Says Norwegian Refugee Council

People make their way along al-Rashid street in western Jabalia on July 22, 2025, after receiving humanitarian aid from an aid distribution point in the northern Gaza Strip. (AFP)
People make their way along al-Rashid street in western Jabalia on July 22, 2025, after receiving humanitarian aid from an aid distribution point in the northern Gaza Strip. (AFP)
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No Aid Supplies Left and Staff Starving in Gaza, Says Norwegian Refugee Council

People make their way along al-Rashid street in western Jabalia on July 22, 2025, after receiving humanitarian aid from an aid distribution point in the northern Gaza Strip. (AFP)
People make their way along al-Rashid street in western Jabalia on July 22, 2025, after receiving humanitarian aid from an aid distribution point in the northern Gaza Strip. (AFP)

The Norwegian Refugee Council told Reuters on Tuesday its aid stocks are completely depleted in Gaza, with some of its staff now starving, and the organization accused Israel of paralyzing its work.

"Our last tent, our last food parcel, our last relief items have been distributed. There is nothing left," Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the council told Reuters in an interview via video link from Oslo.

The council's comments echo those made earlier on Tuesday by the head of the Palestinian refugee agency, who said UNRWA's staff were fainting on the job from hunger and exhaustion.

The NRC says that for the last 145 days, it has not been able to get hundreds of truckloads of tents, water, sanitation, food and education materials into Gaza.

COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, and Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has denied accusations that it is preventing aid from reaching Gaza, and has accused Palestinian group Hamas of stealing food, which Hamas denies.

"Hundreds of truckloads have been sitting in warehouses or in Egypt or elsewhere, and costing our Western European donors a lot of money, but they are blocked from coming in... That's why we are so angry. Because our job is to help," Egeland said.

"Israel is not yielding. They just want to paralyze our work," he added.

The NRC has 64 Palestinian and two international staff on the ground in Gaza. On Sunday the NRC had to move 33 of its staff out of Deir al Balah following Israeli evacuation warnings.

The NRC said its supplies of safe drinking water are also running out, due to dwindling supplies of fuel to run desalination plants. The water has reached 100,000 people in central and northern parts of Gaza in recent weeks

An Israeli official told Reuters there is about a half a million liters of fuel that the UN has been given approval to bring in.

"They're bringing in fuel and collecting, but they can bring in and they can collect more, and we are having discussions with them," the official said.

The official also said that there are about 700 trucks of unpacked aid on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing which have not been distributed.