Muscat, Oman—

Oman’s foreign minister called for a de-escalation of tensions on Sunday during a visit by his Iranian counterpart, who began a regional tour in Muscat where he met with a spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

The visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian comes nearly a week after an airstrike in Damascus destroyed the Iranian embassy and consulate and further heightened regional tensions.

The attack, which Tehran blamed on Israel, killed seven IRGC members, including two generals. Iranian leaders have called for retaliation.

“Oman supports efforts to reduce escalation in the region, resolve various issues and conflicts and allow the voice of wisdom to prevail,” Foreign Minister Seyyed Badr Al Busaidi said in a statement carried by Oman’s official news agency s hard work.”

Oman has long been a mediator between Tehran and the West.

“The Palestinian issue is the main issue we are trying to resolve,” the minister said.

Amira Abdullahian praised the growing relations between Iran and Oman and thanked the Sultanate of Oman for condemning the Damascus attack.

The Gulf state is also a mediator in the war between Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and the internationally recognized Yemeni government.

Houthi rebels have launched dozens of missiles and drone attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November. They said they acted in support of the Palestinians during Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said that during a meeting with Houthi spokesman and senior official Mohammad Abdulsalam in Muscat on Sunday, Amirab Abdullahian praised “the Yemeni nation for its support of the oppressed Palestinians”. The courageous support of the nation.”

During the meeting, Amirab Abdullahian, like other Iranian leaders, vowed to retaliate against attacks in Syria.

He said the country “will use its rights recognized within the framework of international law to hold criminal aggressors accountable and punish them.”

Yahya Rahim Safavi, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, warned on Sunday that the Israeli embassy was “no longer safe” following the attack.

Iran’s old enemy Israel had no immediate comment.

The consulate attack further heightened tensions in the Middle East, already heightened by the war in Gaza and related violence involving Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

At a joint news conference with Houthi officials, Amirab Abdullahian called the attack on the Israeli embassy “a new page in the regime’s bellicosity and expansion of the war in the region.”

According to a Syrian pro-government newspaper national newspaperAmira Abdullahian will travel to Damascus on Monday for an official visit.

Fighting between Yemeni rebels and the government backed by a Saudi-led coalition has been largely on hold since a U.N.-brokered ceasefire in April 2022.

Amira Abdullahian expressed support for “Yemen’s peace negotiation process.”