After talks in the West Bank on Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken flew to Iraq on his mission to keep the Israel-Hamas war from spreading—especially to Americans in the Middle East. "It was very important to send a very clear message to anyone who might seek to take advantage of the conflict in Gaza to threaten our personnel here or anywhere else in the region: Don't do it," he said at the Baghdad airport. That message is included for audiences that include Iran and groups acting at its behest, the New York Times reports.
"The attacks, the threats coming from militia that are aligned with Iran are totally unacceptable," Blinken said. That message also has been sent through intermediaries to Hezbollah, the armed group tied to Iran that's encamped in Lebanon at Israel's northern border, American officials said. Iran sent a message of its own on Sunday, when its defense minister warned that the US will be "hit hard" if it doesn't help bring about a cease-fire in Gaza, per the Wall Street Journal. Like his West Bank visit, Blinken's stop in Baghdad hadn't been announced. He met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani for more than an hour and afterward said their talk was productive. At the US Embassy, Blinken received a security briefing on the risk to US installations, per CNN.
Blinken had met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas while in the West Bank, and he welcomed that cooperation in his remarks in Baghdad, per the AP. The Palestinian Authority, he said, "is playing a very important role right now in the West Bank in trying to keep stability there. That's hugely important because no one wants another front in the West Bank or anywhere else, and they're really stepping up under very difficult conditions to do the necessary work." Blinken was scheduled to go next to Turkey for talks Monday. (More Israel-Hamas war stories.)
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