Diplomacy takes center stage as Iran holds off retaliation against Israel

Along with a surge of combat aircraft and warships, President Biden dispatched three of his top Mideast advisers, including CIA Director Bill Burns, to the region this week to try to delay Iranian and Hezbollah military retaliation against Israel, and to use that borrowed time to craft an offramp from the collision course that ultimately risks a regional war that could draw in U.S. forces. 

U.S. assessments are that Iran will not seek to disrupt ongoing cease-fire negotiations in Doha aimed at ending the Hamas-Israel war. Those technical talks could stretch into the weekend, but it is unclear how long Iran and its proxies may hold off. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Thursday that an Iranian attack could come with "little or no warning, and certainly could come in the coming days." 

Both Iran and its Lebanon-based proxy force Hezbollah have vowed to retaliate in response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran two weeks ago and the July killing of top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut, but have not specified when or how. Israel said it killed Shukr in an airstrike. A U.S. official confirmed to CBS News that Israel was responsible for Haniyeh's killing, though Israel has not publicly acknowledged it.