Washington’s top diplomat Antony Blinken has said he wants to make sure the conflict in the Middle East “doesn’t spread”, as he held meetings in Turkiye and Greece, AFP reports.

Blinken, on a new tour of the Middle East, met Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Crete on Saturday, a few hours after a long meeting in Istanbul with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“One of the real concerns is the border between Israel and Lebanon, and we want to do everything possible to make sure we see no escalation,” he told journalists in Crete after the meeting.

Blinken said it was in nobody’s interest to escalate the conflict or allow it to spread beyond Gaza.

He also said he spoke at length with Mitsotakis about attacks by Houthi rebels disrupting shipping lanes and impacting international commerce, driving the price of food and gas up

Blinken arrived in Amman later on Saturday, ahead of talks with the Jordanian king on Sunday, and is scheduled to travel on to Qatar and Abu Dhabi on Sunday afternoon as part of the crisis tour.