“We would urge Iran not to take advantage of any incident, any instability… to further increase tensions in the region,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington. The United States warned Iran not to increase risks for a regional war in the aftermath of an unusual attack in which hundreds of Hezbollah pagers exploded in Lebanon, killing at least eight and wounding over 2,700 people.

“We would urge Iran not to take advantage of any incident, any instability… to further increase tensions in the region,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington on Tuesday.

Both he and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre denied any United States involvement in the attack, which appeared to return the region to the brink of a larger Israel-Lebanese war. The attack came after Israel said it had foiled a plot by Hezbollah to assassinate a former senior defense official in the coming days.

Israel is widely believed to have masterminded the pager attack but has not claimed responsibility for it. Miller said that “the US was not involved in it [the pager attack]. The US was not aware of this incident in advance.” He underscored the US’s commitment to a diplomatic resolution to both of Israel’s wars with Iranian proxy groups – Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

US special envoy Amos Hochstein was in Israel on Monday in efforts to secure a diplomatic resolution to the constrained IDF-Hezbollah war, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant appeared to pivot toward a military solution. Netanyahu held a series of security consultations on Tuesday after the security cabinet met late Monday night. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the cabinet “updated the objectives of the war to include… returning the residents of the North securely to their homes. Israel will continue to act to implement this objective.”

Already on Monday, Gallant said that a military solution was the only way to end the almost year-long cross-border war with Hezbollah. Netanyahu said that the security situation along the northern border had to change before the residents could return.

Escalations rising between Israel and Hezbollah

Israel and Hezbollah had appeared to be on the verge of a larger war in August – with the possibility of Iranian involvement – after Israel assassinated Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr. The tension, however, had eased over the last month but ratcheted up on Tuesday as Hezbollah said Israel would receive “its fair punishment” for the blasts. Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary condemned the detonation of the pagers – used by Hezbollah and others in Lebanon to communicate – as an “Israeli aggression.”

A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the detonation of the pagers was the “biggest security breach” the group had been subjected to in nearly a year of conflict with Israel.

Various media outlets reported that Lebanon plans to file a complaint against Israel with the United Nations Security Council.

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