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[Global Times reporter Liu Boyang] According to a report by the Financial Times on July 31 local time, after Israel attacked the leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas in Beirut, Lebanon and Tehran, Iran respectively, US and EU diplomats held emergency consultations in the Middle East in an attempt to avoid a full-scale regional war.

According to reports, Enrique Moura, "one of the most senior diplomats" of the European Union and deputy secretary general of the European External Action Service, held important talks with relevant officials in the Iranian capital on Wednesday (July 31). At the same time, Brett McGurk, the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, held talks in Saudi Arabia.

The Financial Times claimed that as the West exerted diplomatic pressure, Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah each vowed to avenge the attack, and concerns about the outbreak of a wider regional conflict also rose.

The report went on to say that officials involved in the talks said the focus of the talks was to "persuade Tehran not to respond or take symbolic action."

Haniya, data map, source: foreign media

According to Xinhua News Agency, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed on July 31 that the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) Political Bureau, Haniyeh, was assassinated in Tehran in the early hours of the same day. Haniyeh attended the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Pezhichyan on the 30th.

It is worth noting that since the outbreak of the new round of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the United States and some of its allies have been "adding fuel to the fire while putting out the fire" in the region. This inconsistent behavior has aroused criticism. Some analysts said that the United States is "opening fire" in the Middle East to deter its opponents with force, while trying to "put out the fire diplomatically" in the Gaza Strip for its own political purposes. This contradictory and divisive policy will not only fail to bring real peace and stability to the Middle East, but will further intensify tensions and push the regional situation into a "highly unstable state."