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

People react near an ambulance as the wounded are brought to a hospital in Beirut on Tuesday, after explosions hit locations in several Hezbollah strongholds around Lebanon amid ongoing cross-border tensions between Israel and Hezbollah fighters. AFP

The United States said Tuesday 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.
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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 October 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.