US says ‘not involved’ and ‘not aware’ in advance of Lebanon pager blasts

WASHINGTON: The United States said Tuesday (Sep 17) it was not aware in advance and had no involvement in mass explosions of pagers used by Lebanon’s Hezbollah, as it urged restraint by Iran in response.
“I can tell you that the US was not involved in it, the US was not aware of this incident in advance and, at this point, we’re gathering information,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
Miller declined to comment on widespread suspicion that the blasts were carried out by Israel, which has been regularly trading fire with Hezbollah after the Oct 7 attack on Israel by another Iranian ally, Hamas.
The blasts came after weeks of private diplomacy by the United States to discourage a major Iranian retaliation against Israel for the killing of the Hamas political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, on a visit to Tehran.
Miller said the US message to Iran remained unchanged.
“We would urge Iran not to take advantage of any incident to try to add further instability and to further increase tensions in the region,” Miller said.
A senior US envoy, Amos Hochstein, a day earlier met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials as he sought to discourage a full-scale war against Lebanon.
“We do want to see a diplomatic resolution to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah,” Miller said.
“We want to see one that allows the tens of thousands of Israelis who’ve been displaced from their homes and the tens of thousands of Lebanese who have been displaced from their homes to be able to return home,” Miller said.
But Miller suggested that Hezbollah – considered a terrorist group by the United States – was fair game to strike, without confirming Israeli involvement.
“Terrorist members of a terrorist organisation are legitimate targets for countries to launch operations against,” Miller said.
The United States is a close ally of Israel and foe of Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution overthrew the Western-oriented Shah.
Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, who is considered a reformist within the cleric-run state, at a news conference on Monday said that he sought better relations with the United States, including restoration of a 2015 nuclear accord.
“We do not want to fight with America if it respects our rights,” he said.
Asked about his remarks, Miller said the United States had “great fondness” for the Iranian people but that “when it comes to the regime, ultimately, we’ll judge them by their actions, not their words”.
“The way to show brotherhood would not be through rhetoric. It would be to stop arming and encouraging terrorist groups, to stop nuclear escalation, blocking the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it would be to stop plotting to kill political opponents, stop transferring missiles and drones to Russia, and ultimately stop cracking down on the human rights of its own people,” Miller said.