LONDON, August 13. /TASS/. Washington has asked its allies maintaining relations with Iran to persuade Tehran to de-escalate, US Ambassador to Turkey Jeff Flake said.

"We ask all of our allies that have any relations with Iran to prevail on them to de-escalate," Reuters quoted him as saying at a round-table with journalists in Istanbul.

"They're doing what they can to make sure that it doesn't escalate," Flake added.

According to earlier reports, Iran has made preparations similar to those it had made before an attack on Israel in April. The Axios news website wrote, citing a senior Israeli official, that "the Iranians openly signal <...> their determination to carry out a significant attack in addition to their public statements that the attack will exceed the one they carried out in April."

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and the killing of Fuad Shukr, a top commander of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah movement, in Beirut. Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah blamed the killings on Israel, vowing to take revenge.