US believes wider Middle East war is 'not imminent:' Pentagon

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The Pentagon said Monday that a wider regional war is "not imminent" as tensions continued to rise in the Middle East.

"We certainly don't want to see that...We still believe that a wider regional war is not imminent," spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters when asked whether she believes an attack by Iran and its proxies is "imminent" against Israel.

The US believes that "the best way" for tensions to calm in the region is for a cease-fire deal in the Gaza Strip to be put in place to see American hostages come home, she said.

"We don't want to see a wider regional conflict, and that's why, over the course of time, I mean since Oct. 8th, we have moved additional assets to the region to project a message of deterrence," Singh added.

The Pentagon announced Friday that the US will deploy additional military assets to the Middle East ahead of possible retaliation by Iran against Israel.

US forces continue to posture across the Middle East to improve US force protection, to increase support for the defense of Israel, and to ensure the US is prepared to respond to various contingencies, Singh said.

Regional tensions have escalated after Ismail Haniyeh, the political chief of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, was assassinated in the capital Tehran on July 31 after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Iran’s new president.

Hamas and Iran accused Israel of carrying out Haniyeh’s assassination, while Tel Aviv has not denied or confirmed its responsibility.

Israel is on high alert for a potential military response from Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which also vowed to retaliate following the death of its senior commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli airstrike last week on a suburb of Beirut.