A State Department spokesman said the US was “not involved” in the series of pager explosions in Lebanon and had “no knowledge” of any attacks in advance.
“The United States had no prior knowledge of this incident and is currently gathering information,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, reiterating that it was an “incident” rather than an “attack.”
Miller did not say what intelligence the United States has so far or whether it has assessed that Israel is responsible.
The attack, which Lebanon’s health minister said wounded about 2,800 people and killed at least nine, was blamed by both Hezbollah and Lebanon on Israel. The Israel Defense Forces declined to comment.
“At this point, there’s nothing we can assess either way,” Miller said.
Miller did not say whether the U.S. would conduct its own assessment, but said the U.S. was “gathering information through all of the normal intelligence gathering channels.”
“We are gathering information about this incident through diplomatic and other channels,” he said, but did not say whether the United States had consulted with Israeli or Lebanese officials.
“I don’t want to have any preconceived ideas about what we’re going to say going forward,” Miller said.
Asked whether there were any signs that Iran might retaliate following reports that the Iranian ambassador had been injured, Miller said he didn’t want to speculate until the reports were confirmed.
“I have seen the reports. I don’t want to talk about what they mean until the reports are confirmed. But as always, we urge Iran not to try to use any incident or instability to create more instability and further escalate tensions in the region. That has been the message we have been sending to Iran since October 7,” he said.
Miller also reiterated that the United States believes that the conflict between northern Israel and Hezbollah requires a diplomatic solution, and said it is important that Israel and Hamas reach a ceasefire to facilitate a diplomatic solution in the north.
“Without a resolution to the Gaza conflict, without a ceasefire in Gaza, it’s going to be very difficult to get a diplomatic solution in the north,” Miller said. “That’s why we’re pushing for a ceasefire, because we think if there’s a ceasefire, that will make it much easier to get a resolution.”
Miller did not say how the United States views the attack as affecting ceasefire talks.
