U.N.’s human rights chief and the head of EU foreign policy are the latest leaders to call for urgent deescalation in the Middle East amid reports of a possibly imminent retaliatory attack from Iran against Israel and mounting fears of an all-out regional war. President Biden met with his national security team Monday, and the U.S. CENTCOM commander arrived in Israel earlier today. Foreign embassies are evacuating their citizens from Lebanon and the region. Meanwhile, U.S. military personnel were injured Monday in a suspected rocket attack on al-Asad airbase in Iraq. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Monday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken: “We are engaged in intense diplomacy, pretty much around the clock, with a very simple message: All parties must refrain from escalation. All parties must take steps to ease tensions. Escalation is not in anyone’s interests. It will only lead to more conflict, more violence, more insecurity.”