Neither Washington nor Tehran wants the conflict in the Gaza Strip to trigger a wider war in the region, officials in both capitals say.
But in the seven weeks since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Iranian-backed militias have launched more than 70 rocket and drone attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria.
The Pentagon, for its part, has responded with four rounds of airstrikes, killing as many as 15 people, U.S. officials say.
So far, none of the U.S. reprisal attacks have provoked an escalation, even the one last week in Iraq that killed several militants with Kataib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed group.
The Pentagon said on Tuesday that the attacks had subsided at least temporarily — the most recent being on Nov. 23, the day before an operational pause in the Gaza war began.
Organizations:
U.S, Pentagon, Hezbollah
Locations:
Washington, Tehran, Gaza, Israel, Iranian, Iraq, Syria, United States, East, South Asia