Biden: Iran expected to push off attacking Israel if Gaza ceasefire deal clinched
US says Qatar trying to bring Hamas terror group to table for Thursday summit, though Israeli negotiator reportedly complains talks doomed unless Netanyahu expands team’s mandate
A widely anticipated Iranian attack on Israel to avenge the assassinations of senior terror figures may be staved off if Israel and Hamas manage to reach a long-sought ceasefire deal in Gaza when talks resume later this week, US President Joe Biden said Tuesday.
The comments came hours after Iranian officials told Reuters a promised retaliatory strike could be delayed to allow talks to progress, even as Hamas indicated it would not attend the negotiations and with a member of the Israeli delegation expressing doubt in the viability of the talks unless Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expands the team’s mandate.
Negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal are scheduled to resume in either Egypt or Qatar on Thursday, with US mediators touting the summit as possibly the final opportunity to release the hostages captured by Hamas on October 7, end the 10-month-long war in Gaza and avert the possibility of an all-out regional war with the involvement of Iran.
Visiting New Orleans for an appearance Tuesday, Biden was asked by reporters if he expected Iran to hold off on a retaliatory strike if a deal is reached.
“That’s my expectation,” the president replied.
But Biden also warned that achieving a ceasefire deal was “getting harder,” while expressing his resolve about securing an end to the hostilities.
“We’ll see what Iran does and we’ll see what happens if there is any attack. But I’m not giving up,” Biden said.
The US State Department said on Tuesday that it was working to ensure that Hamas representatives attend the upcoming talks.
US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said that Doha had assured Washington that it would “work to see Hamas represented” at the upcoming talks.
The terror group issued a statement on Monday indicating that it would not attend the meeting unless mediators coaxed Israel into agreeing to the updated proposal that the terror group submitted in early July in response to the US-backed outline.
The offer saw Hamas cave on its long-held central demand that Israel commit upfront to a permanent ceasefire. The response from Israel came in the form of Netanyahu’s list of amended demands, which Hamas then rejected.
A location for Thursday’s summit has yet to be announced, but an Arab official told The Times of Israel that the current expectation is for the meeting to take place in Doha.
Despite speculation that Hamas may not attend, Patel said the US “fully expects these talks to move forward.”
Amid the efforts to finalize the long-anticipated deal, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One that White House Middle East czar Brett McGurk would be traveling to Cairo and Doha in the coming days, while special envoy Amos Hochstein would be visiting Lebanon in an attempt to avoid further regional escalation.
After Iranian officials suggested earlier on Tuesday that a successful hostage deal could hold it back from direct retaliation against Israel, Jean-Pierre said the US believes that “getting a ceasefire deal is the best way to de-escalate the tensions we’re seeing.”
The US has been engaged in intensive diplomatic efforts to dissuade Iran from launching an attack against Israel for the July 31 assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which it has blamed on Israel. Jerusalem has neither confirmed nor denied any involvement in his death.
Hezbollah, the powerful Iranian proxy terror group in Lebanon, has also vowed revenge for the assassination of top Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr near Beirut that same day, in a strike claimed by the IDF.
With an increased risk of a broader Middle East war, Iran has been involved in intense dialogue with Western countries and the United States in recent days on ways to calibrate retaliation, three Iranian sources told Reuters who all spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Several reports in recent days indicated Israel believes Iran intends to attack before Thursday’s renewed talks for a deal. The new comments appeared to signal that the attack would only take place after those talks, and only if they failed to yield what Iran deems to be sufficient results.
One of the sources, a senior Iranian security official, said Iran and allies such as Hezbollah would launch a direct attack if the talks between Israel and Hamas fail or it perceives Israel is dragging out negotiations. The sources did not say how long Iran would allow for talks to progress before taking action.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced last week that Israel would send its negotiators to August 15 talks “to finalize the details of the implementation of the agreement framework,” after the US, Qatar and Egypt issued a joint statement demanding a deal be sealed and implemented without further delay.
A member of the negotiation team told Israel’s Channel 12 on Tuesday evening that there was no point in traveling to the talks if Netanyahu didn’t expand the team’s mandate.
The parameters within which the Israeli team will be expected to conduct negotiations have yet to be decided on, and will be set in a meeting with the prime minister this week, according to the report.
Earlier this month, the Israeli delegation warned Netanyahu that it wouldn’t be possible to reach a deal with the new demands he issued in late July.
The widely reported demands — which Netanyahu has insisted are not new additions — were said to include a stipulation that IDF forces remain in control of the Philadelphi Corridor between Israel and Egypt; and added restrictions on the displaced people allowed to return to northern Gaza when fighting is halted.
Netanyahu’s office has repeatedly denied the reports, insisting that the prime minister had not changed any part of the US-endorsed May 27 proposal that has been stuck in back-and-forth negotiations. Instead, his office said, he was merely providing “essential clarifications” to implement the original framework.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday evening that Israel was closely tracking its enemies as it awaits a potential attack.
“I am aware of the tensions and the great burden placed on the citizens of Israel. We are following what is happening, in Beirut, in Tehran, and in other places,” Gallant said during a visit to an IDF intelligence base in northern Israel.
“We are engaged both in removing the threats and preparing all possibilities, in order to be able to attack wherever we decide,” he added, according to remarks provided by his office.
The Mehr news agency reported later that Iran was holding a military drill in the north of the country, but did not specify if it was related to the country’s plans to strike Israel.
Some had anticipated that an attack could come on Monday night or Tuesday, when Jewish communities in Israel and around the world marked the Tisha B’Av, Ninth of Av, considered a day of mourning and calamity in the Jewish calendar.
While the day did not see any major attacks, Hamas terrorists attempted to fire two rockets at Tel Aviv for the first time in months, and Tuesday night saw around 40 rockets fired from Lebanon at northern Israel. No injuries were reported.
Agencies contributed to this report.
