US says ‘not involved’ and ‘not aware’ in advance of Lebanon pager blasts

The US said Tuesday it was now now not awake upfront and had no involvement in mass explosions of pagers passe by Lebanon’s Hezbollah, as it entreated restraint by Iran in response.

“I’m in a position to point out you that the US was now now not inquisitive about it, the US was now now not attentive to this incident upfront and, at this level, we’re gathering files,” Disclose Division spokesman Matthew Miller suggested reporters.

Miller declined to comment on original suspicion that the blasts had been utilized by Israel, which has been continuously trading fireplace with Hezbollah after the October 7 attack on Israel by any other Iranian ally, Hamas.

The blasts came after weeks of non-public diplomacy by the United States to discourage a principal Iranian retaliation towards Israel for the killing of the Hamas political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, on a discuss over with to Tehran.

Miller said the US message to Iran remained unchanged.

“We would urge Iran now now not to take relieve of any incident to strive so to add additional instability and to additional lengthen tensions within the draw,” Miller said.

A senior US envoy, Amos Hochstein, a day earlier met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and diversified Israeli officers as he sought to discourage a stout-scale warfare towards Lebanon.

“We present out are making an are attempting to look a diplomatic resolution to the warfare between Israel and Hezbollah,” Miller said.

“We are making an are attempting to look one which lets within the tens of hundreds of Israelis who’ve been displaced from their homes and the tens of hundreds of Lebanese who secure been displaced from their homes so that that you must reach home,” Miller said.

However Miller urged that Hezbollah — thought of a terrorist community by the United States — was beautiful game to strike, without confirming Israeli involvement.

“Terrorist members of a terrorist organization are reliable targets for countries to launch operations towards,” Miller said.

The US is a shut ally of Israel and foe of Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution overthrew the Western-oriented shah.

Iran’s fresh president, Masoud Pezeshkian, who is thought of a reformist within the route of the cleric-breeze express, at a files convention on Monday said that he sought better relations with the United States, including restoration of a 2015 nuclear accord.

“We present out now now not are making an are attempting to fight with The US if it respects our rights,” he said.

Asked about his remarks, Miller said the United States had “grand fondness” for the Iranian of us nonetheless that “by device of the regime, finally, we are going to mediate them by their actions, now now not their phrases.”

“The model to demonstrate brotherhood would now now not be thru rhetoric. It’d be to forestall arming and encouraging terrorist groups, to forestall nuclear escalation, blocking the work of the International Atomic Vitality Company, it could maybe maybe be to forestall plotting to murder political opponents, stop transferring missiles and drones to Russia, and finally stop cracking down on the human rights of its possess of us,” Miller said.