--- title: White House National Security Spokesman Says No Immediate Signs of Escalation After Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh Was Killed | TIME description: White House national security spokesman John Kirby was asked repeatedly Wednesday if Israel's suspected killing of Hamas's political leader in Iran would lead to an escalation in hostilities throughout the Middle East, and potentially jeopardize a case-fire deal between Israel and Hamas that the U.S. has tried to broker. canonical: https://time.com/video/NPw7SbOm/ og:title: White House National Security Spokesman Says No Immediate Signs of Escalation After Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh Was Killed og:description: White House national security spokesman John Kirby was asked repeatedly Wednesday if Israel's suspected killing of Hamas's political leader in Iran would lead to an escalation in hostilities throughout the Middle East, and potentially jeopardize a case-fire deal between Israel and Hamas that the U.S. has tried to broker. og:url: https://time.com/video/NPw7SbOm/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/NPw7SbOm/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House National Security Spokesman Says No Immediate Signs of Escalation After Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh Was Killed twitter:description: White House national security spokesman John Kirby was asked repeatedly Wednesday if Israel's suspected killing of Hamas's political leader in Iran would lead to an escalation in hostilities throughout the Middle East, and potentially jeopardize a case-fire deal between Israel and Hamas that the U.S. has tried to broker. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/NPw7SbOm/poster.jpg?width=720 --- * World # White House National Security Spokesman Says No Immediate Signs of Escalation After Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh Was Killed > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: White House National Security Spokesman Says No Immediate Signs of Escalation After Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh Was Killed [Watch (HLS stream): White House National Security Spokesman Says No Immediate Signs of Escalation After Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh Was Killed](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/NPw7SbOm.m3u8) (3:13)  _Published 2024-07-31. White House national security spokesman John Kirby was asked repeatedly Wednesday if Israel's suspected killing of Hamas's political leader in Iran would lead to an escalation in hostilities throughout the Middle East, and potentially jeopardize a case-fire deal between Israel and Hamas that the U.S. has tried to broker._ --- Aug 1, 2024 2:46 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Global Leaders React After Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh Assassinated](/video/hpPwNSjB/) ### Global Leaders React After Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh Assassinated [Netanyahu Says Israel 'Will Not Agree to Cessation of Hostilities with Hamas'](/video/4z5Ciz6z/) ### Netanyahu Says Israel 'Will Not Agree to Cessation of Hostilities with Hamas' [National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby Says a Cease-Fire Right Now "Only Benefits Hamas"](/video/O6iQdL7A/) ### National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby Says a Cease-Fire Right Now "Only Benefits Hamas" --- ## Transcript I am I'm not in a position to confirm the reports coming out of Tehran. I've seen a statement that Hamas put out. I can't confirm or verify. We have no independent confirmation. But I can but I can state that I also have no conversations around that reporting that I can speak to today. Think it's too soon to know what any of these reported events could mean for the Cease fire deal. But if I could add two points. One is, that doesn't mean we're going to stop working on it. In fact, we have a team in the region right now as we speak to try to continue to work with our counterparts to move this forward because it's that important And number two, as I kind of alluded to earlier, it's always been complicated work. And it's not like the complications with every passing day get easier. And includes today, our job since the beginning of this conflict, in addition to making sure Israel has what it needs to defend itself, in addition to making sure the people of Gaza aren't suffering more than they already are, is to manage risk in the region. One of the things the president's been very focused on is trying to prevent escalation here. That work is complicated and difficult every day, and that includes today. Go, da. Don't believe that an escalation is inevitable. And there's no signs that an escalation is imminent. But I also said that we watch it very, very closely. I also said, and said again today that this is something that we've been concerned about since 7 October. It's not like we're brushing off concerns at all. We're watching this very, very closely, and it's been a chief concern of the president. The White House be urging restraint from Israel for. I'm not going to talk about our diplomatic discussions with our Israeli counterparts. We have been working hard to keep this war from escalating just as we've been working very hard and are today to make sure Israel has what it needs to defend itself. Look, you've seen the comments by the Supreme leader and what he said publicly. It's out there for everybody to see. I'll certainly not speculate about whether and to what degree Iran does anything. What I can tell you is we have and will maintain a level of readiness to preserve our national security interest in the region. It's not like we take a blind eye at what Iran is capable of doing and has shown their capability of doing in the region. It's not like we've demonstrated an unwillingness to defend Israel from threats in the region, including from Iran, if that happens, and we maintain that capability and that readiness to do so now. Based on the constructive conversations that we have with the Prime Minister last week, we still believe that this is a worthy endeavor. We still believe that the gaps can be narrowed, the details can be fleshed out, and a deal can be had. Now, again, It's too soon to know what these recent events over the last 24, 48 hours are going to do to the process. I don't want to sound overly sanguine here, but we still believe the deal on the table is worth pursuing, and the hostages need to come home. 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