Given the increasingly evident and undeniable decline of President Joe Biden's cognitive capabilities, paired with the apparent flare-up of hostilities in hot spots around the world, there are legitimate concerns about who is in charge of U.S. foreign policy and what is being done to address the escalating conflicts.

Biden, joined by Vice President Kamala Harris, held a high-level meeting on Monday with their senior national security team to discuss the seemingly increasingly likely prospects of a broad Middle East war sparked by direct attacks between Iran and Israel, the BBC reported.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after the meeting that U.S. officials were closely watching developments and working "around the clock" to de-escalate the situation and prevent a wider conflict in the volatile region.

Biden meeting with national security team

A broad regional war in the Middle East has been a possibility since the Oct. 7 wave of Hamas terror attacks on Israel last year but that threat was ramped up substantially in recent weeks by suspected Israeli strikes on certain high-profile targets and anticipated Iranian retaliation, per the BBC.

Israel is suspected to have taken out the top Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in an explosive incident in Iran's capital of Tehran, while Israel is also believed to have killed a top Hezbollah military commander, Fuad Shukr, in a targeted airstrike in Lebanon's capital of Beirut, which prompted elevated concerns of potentially coordinated retaliatory strikes by Iran, Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Hamas.

Meanwhile, it was also reported on Monday that several U.S. civilian and military personnel were injured in a rocket attack on a U.S. base in Iraq that was suspected to have been launched by an Iranian-backed militia group.

On Monday evening, the official POTUS account on X posted a photo from the White House Situation Room that featured President Biden and Vice President Harris receiving briefings from several senior advisors and Cabinet members, and said, "Earlier, @VP and I were briefed in the Situation Room on developments in the Middle East."

"We received updates on threats posed by Iran and its proxies, diplomatic efforts to de-escalate regional tensions, and preparations to support Israel should it be attacked again," the post from the president added. "We also discussed the steps we are taking to defend our forces and respond to any attack against our personnel in a manner and place of our choosing.

Blinken says U.S. working "around the clock" to prevent wider conflict

According to the Washington Examiner, Sec. of State Blinken addressed the developing situation during a news conference on Monday at the State Department, and said, "It is a critical moment. We are engaged in intense diplomacy pretty much around the clock, with a very simple message: All parties must refrain from escalation."

"All parties must take steps to ease tensions. Escalation is not in anyone's interest. It will only lead to more conflict, more violence, more insecurity," he continued. "It's also critical that we break this cycle by reaching a ceasefire in Gaza. That, in turn, will unlock possibilities for more enduring calm, not only in Gaza itself but in other areas where the conflict could spread."

Blinken added, in what some interpreted as a subtle warning against Israel, "What it comes down to, really, is all parties finding ways to come to an agreement, not look for reasons to delay or to say no. It is urgent that all parties make the right choices in the hours and days ahead."

Iran-backed attack on U.S. personnel in Iraq

The Examiner reported that while few details have been released about the latest rocket attack by Iran-backed militia groups targeting U.S. personnel in Iraq, it is believed that at least seven U.S. civilians and military members suffered minor injuries in the barrage.

Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) told CNN, "The chess game that's underway right now in the Middle East, which is horrifying in and of itself, is one between Iran and Israel," and added, "I suspect, but I don't know … that this militia attack on a U.S. base was probably not part of the retaliation that we're bracing for."

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), however, blamed the Biden-Harris administration's "appeasement" of Iran and reversal of former President Trump's tough policies against the regime in Tehran "has empowered Iranian-backed terrorists to carry out nearly 200 attacks against U.S. service members, resulting in the deaths of Americans and countless injuries."