United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has asked China’s foreign minister and other counterparts to use their influence to dissuade Iran from striking Israel, the State Department said, AFP reports.

Blinken spoke by telephone over the past day to his Chinese, Turkish, Saudi and European counterparts “to make clear that escalation is not in anyone’s interest and that countries should urge Iran not to escalate,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

Iran’s clerical leadership has vowed to retaliate after an Israeli strike on April 1 leveled an Iranian diplomatic building in Damascus, killing seven members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards including two generals.