Amman, 7 January 2024 (dpa/MIA) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has landed in Amman on the next step of a trip to the Middle East aimed at reducing tensions in the region, Blinken's spokesman Matthew Miller posted on X early on Sunday.

"Jordan is a vital partner in helping to prevent the conflict in the region from spreading," Miller said.

"We are grateful for their leadership in facilitating aid to civilians in Gaza," he added.

After meeting Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi and King Abdullah II, Blinken was to travel to Qatar for talks in Doha with Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

After stopping off in Crete in Greece on Saturday, Blinken flew to the Jordanian capital at the start of on an extended tour of the Middle East, his fourth to the region in four months.

His also to visit the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank and Egypt, according to his office. He had previously met Turkish President President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Istanbul.

During the trip, Blinken is seeking to discuss concrete steps on how actors in the region could use their influence to avoid an escalation of the Gaza war, his office said.

Washington also wants to ensure increased humanitarian aid enters Gaza and that Hamas militants free the remaining hostages they hold.

The US is seeking to avoid the conflict, which erupted following the October 7 attacks mounted by Hamas from the Gaza Strip, from spreading throughout the region, amid increasing cross-border attacks on the Lebanese-Israeli border and attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.