World powers are racing to de-escalate tensions and minimize the risk of a full-scale war as the threat of a large Iranian attack on Israel grows imminent.
As the crisis deepens, the international community is watching with growing alarm, citizens being urged to evacuate the region.
Fears of a wider conflict have escalated following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday, just a day after an Israeli strike killed Fuad Shukr, a senior military commander from Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Iran.
The United States, along with several other countries such as France and Canada, is telling its citizens to leave the region, and is deploying more military might in the Middle East as preventative and defensive measures.
Jonathan Finer, White House National Security Council deputy adviser, said on Sunday, "Our goal is de-escalation, our goal is deterrence, our goal is defense of Israel."
On Saturday, US President Joe Biden expressed hope that Iran will back down from its vow to avenge the killing of Haniyeh. However, with Israel bracing for potential attacks from both Iran and Hezbollah as well as other Iran-backed militia groups, the situation remains highly volatile.
Asked by reporters whether Iran would stand down, Biden said on Saturday in response to a shouted question, "I hope so. I don't know."
The Centcom commander Michael Kurilla, who is in charge of US forces in the Middle East, has arrived in the region to assess the threat, which could come from multiple fronts and as early as Monday, according to a report by Axios. The Pentagon said on Friday it would deploy additional fighter jets and Navy warships to the region.
The Ynet news website similarly reported a round of security meetings in Israel over the weekend to prepare for an attack that could lead to a war on what it said could be “five fronts,” without elaborating.
According to Israeli media, the US is scrambling to revive a regional coalition that earlier this year succeeded in almost entirely thwarting the first ever direct Iranian attack on Israel, while Israeli officials reportedly believe that this time around there may be damage and casualties.
In April, hundreds of missiles and kamikaze drones were launched from Iran. Tehran had telegraphed that strike in advance giving Israel, the US and their allies enough time to prepare and shoot down all but two of the missiles -- which landed near a military base but left no casualties.
A single source report even claimed on Saturday that a high-level American security delegation, brokered by Oman, has secretly traveled to Tehran to deliver a 'calming and cautionary' message aimed at preventing a potential military conflict. Kuwait’s Al-Jarida newspaper cited an unnamed source in Iran's Supreme National Security Council as revealing to them that the American delegation, arriving on a private plane from Turkey, landed at Payam-e-Khorram Airport in Karaj on Thursday and held a two-hour meeting with Iranian officials before returning to Ankara. The US State Department rejected the report on Sunday.
Additionally, Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi traveled to Tehran on Sunday in a rare visit for urgent talks about regional developments with Iran's Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani.
Safadi's visit to Iran follows continued diplomatic contacts by the United States and its partners including France, Britain, Italy, and Egypt on Saturday.
Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty stressed in a phone call with Bagheri Kani that recent developments in the region were "unprecedented, very dangerous" and threatening to stability.
Haniyeh's death was one in a series of killings of senior figures of Iran’s proxy groups as the Gaza war nears its eleventh month.
Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah have all hyped the retaliation threat, but the Iranian media is also pursuing a strategic ambiguity regarding the timing but emphasizes that the forthcoming action will surpass the previous offensive in scale and impact.
Despite possibly being a strategic move, Iran's secrecy and delay in releasing official explanations about Haniyeh's assassination have sparked numerous speculations about the hit operation.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) announced on Saturday that the Hamas leader was assassinated with a "short-range projectile with a warhead of approximately 7 kilograms."
This contradicts reports by The New York Times and The Telegraph, which claimed that the attack was carried out by planting a bomb in Haniyeh's room. If true, this latter scenario could have potentially allowed Iran to limit its retaliation to a similar bombing in Israel.
The Telegraph reported that Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, hired Iranian security agents to plant explosives in three separate rooms of a building where a Hamas leader was staying.
Israel’s Channel 12 said the killing of Hamas’s Haniyeh at an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-run guesthouse in the heart of Tehran left the regime feeling “deeply penetrated” and “completely exposed” to Israeli intelligence.