(Bloomberg) — Iran urged the US to use diplomacy to ease tensions in the Middle East, as Tehran braces for a military response to a deadly attack on an American base over the weekend.

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The foreign minister of the Islamic Republic said “active” diplomacy is underway to find a political solution to the war in Gaza and the regional fallout, without elaborating.

“The White House knows very well” that the way to end the war “and the current crisis in the region is political,” Hossein Amirabdollahian said in a post on X.

The comments come as the US weighs how to retaliate against a deadly attack on a base in Jordan that killed three American soldiers and injured dozens. President Joe Biden blamed Tehran-backed militias in neighboring Syria and Iraq and said he’d respond “at a time and in a manner of our choosing.”

Iran denied involvement in the strike, which was the first to kill Americans since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza in October.

Many Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, have said the attack shows Biden’s been too soft on Iran.

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The US and Iran don’t have formal diplomatic ties but have exchanged messages about the crisis since then, sometimes through the Swiss embassy in Tehran. Both sides say they want to de-escalate the situation while blaming the other for inflaming it. The US says Iran’s support for regional militias is fueling tensions, while Tehran says Washington must put pressure on Israel to end its military offensive in Gaza.

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