TEHRAN - As Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Mongolia on July 31, his focus was on events unfolding in West Asia.

Earlier, Israel had assassinated a senior Hamas leader in Tehran, and Iranian officials had threatened retaliation for the martyrdom of their close ally on Iranian soil.

From the privacy of his plane, Blinken used a secure phone to speak with several foreign officials in the hours after the assassination.

He urged them to encourage Iran not to take any actions that could escalate the situation into a full-scale war with Israel.

Days later, one of the officials Blinken had spoken to, the Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, visited Tehran and called for "peace, stability and security" in the region.

On August 04, the Tehran Times published an exclusive tweet, confirming the messages but now the U.S. outlet, the New York Times, acknowledged the matter.

“After meeting with Iran's acting FM @Bagheri_Kani, Ayman Safadi, Jordan's Foreign Minister, stated that he carries no message from Israel. He is correct. Safadi brought a repeated message from the U.S. officials.”