The phone calls took place as part of increased communications between officials within the region and the U.S. in the midst of concerns over heightened regional tensions.

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, received phone calls from the foreign ministers of the United States, Egypt and Jordan amid efforts to avert further regional escalations.

According to Qatar’s foreign ministry, Sheikh Mohammed discussed the latest regional tensions in separate calls on Monday with U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken and Egyptian Foreign Minister, Badr Abdelatty.

The phone call between the top Qatari and U.S. officials dealt with the developments in the Gaza Strip and “joint mediation efforts aimed at ending the war”. 

Both sides also discussed “the constant tensions in the Middle East, stressing the need for calm and de-escalation in the region”.

U.S. State Department Spokesperson, Matthew Miller, separately said the two sides discussed efforts to “prevent further escalation”.

The call between Sheikh Mohammed and Abdelatty also tapped into the same issues, including joint mediation efforts in the Gaza Strip, where Qatar and Egypt are playing a crucial role in hopes of reaching a ceasefire.

Abdelatty also held a phone call with Blinken on the same day, where the latter “reiterated that all parties should refrain from actions that would escalate the conflict”.

Then, on Tuesday, Sheikh Mohammed received a phone call from Jordanian foreign minister, Ayman Safadi.

According to Jordan’s foreign ministry,  they discussed the “deterioration witnessed by the region” as a result of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip and “the repercussions of the assassination” of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week.

“Safadi and Sheikh Mohammed stressed, during a phone call, that stopping the aggression on Gaza represents the first step towards diffusing the tension and escalation that threaten to push the entire region towards more conflict and wars,” the statement said.

Increased communications

The phone calls took place as part of increased communications between officials within the region and the U.S. due to concerns over a potential regional war. 

The tensions were triggered by last week’s Israeli attack on Beirut, where it killed top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukur. 

The attack on July 30 followed the Israeli assassination of Hamas political chief Haniyeh alongside his companion, Wasim Abu Shaaban, in Tehran on July 31, fueling the regional situation.

While Israel claimed the first attack, it has yet to publicly claim responsibility for the killing of Haniyeh, which was met with global condemnations including mediators Qatar and Egypt.

The U.S., which is Israel’s main ally and backer, maintains that it has no knowledge of the assassination of Haniyeh.

Iran and the Axis of Resistance have vowed since last week to retaliate for the attacks, creating a state of panic among Israelis while prompting airlines to cancel their flights to and from Tel Aviv. 

The U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other countries have also issued travel warnings over Lebanon, calling on their citizens to immediately leave the country.

Jordan’s airline, Royal Jordanian, announced on Monday that it will operate three flights between Monday and Wednesday to transport Jordanians wishing to return from Beirut to Amman.

Amman has also been among the countries working to prevent the outbreak of a regional war since last week. 

Jordan’s foreign minister travelled to Iran on Sunday in a rare visit, becoming the first Jordanian representative to pay an official visit to Tehran in 20 years, according to the Associated Press.

Safadi’s visit to Tehran was widely seen as part of Amman’s shuttle diplomacy, given its close relations with the West. Jordan had also established ties with Israel in 1994 under the Wadi Araba Peace Treaty.

“We want our region to live in security, peace and stability. We want the escalation to end. The first step towards ending the escalation is to stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza, stop violating the rights of the Palestinian people in the West Bank,” he told Iranian media.

U.S. President Joe Biden also spoke with King Abdullah II of Jordan on Monday, where there was a great emphasis on the need to reach a ceasefire and captives release deal. 

When asked by the press in Washington on Monday whether Amman has been relaying any messages to the Iranians, Miller said he will let “the countries in the region speak to what diplomatic engagements they might have had”.

“One of the points of the engagements that we have had is to urge countries to pass messages to Iran and urge countries to make clear to Iran that it is very much not in their interests to escalate this conflict… to launch another attack on Israel,” he told a press briefing. 

“I would expect that some of them would pass that message along and impress that point upon the government of Iran, but I’ll let each individual country speak to their particular conversations,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Group of Seven’s (G7) foreign ministers and the High Representative of the European Union released a joint statement on Monday expressing their “deep concern” at the region’s heightened tensions.

The G7 includes the U.S., the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan.

“We urge all involved parties once again to refrain from perpetuating the current destructive cycle of retaliatory violence, to lower tensions and engage constructively toward de-escalation. No country or nation stands to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East,” the statement read.