By Parisa Hafezi and Jonathan Landay
DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Iran has told Washington it will respond to the Israeli attack on its Syrian embassy in a way that avoids a major escalation and will not act hastily, while Tehran insists on its demands, notably a truce in Gaza, from Iranian sources. said.
Iran’s message to Washington was conveyed by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian during a visit Sunday to the Gulf Arab state of Oman, which has often served as an intermediary between Tehran and Washington, they said. indicated the sources.
A White House spokesperson declined to comment on Iran’s messages, but said the United States had conveyed to Iran that it was not involved in the attack on the embassy. .
Iran’s Foreign Ministry was not immediately available for comment. The Omani government did not immediately respond to emailed questions for comment, sent during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
A source close to US intelligence was not aware of the message transmitted via Oman, but said Iran had ‘made very clear’ that its response to the attack on its embassy compound in Damascus would be ‘controlled’ and “non-escalatory” and planned “to use regional proxies to launch a number of attacks against Israel.”
The diplomatic message underscores a cautious approach by Iran, which is considering how to respond to the April 1 attack in a way that deters Israel from pursuing such actions, while avoiding a military escalation that could attract UNITED STATES.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Israel “must be punished and it will be punished”, saying it amounted to an attack on Iranian soil. Israel has not confirmed its responsibility, but the Pentagon has said so.
The attack, which killed a top Iranian general, marked an escalation of violence that has spread across the region since the start of the Gaza war. Tehran has carefully avoided any direct role in the regional fallout, while supporting groups that have carried out attacks from Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon.
Iran-backed Shiite Muslim militias have not attacked U.S. troops in Syria and Iraq since early February.
One of the Iranian sources did not rule out the possibility that members of the Iran-backed Axis of Resistance could attack Israel at any time – an option that analysts have flagged as a possible means of retaliation .
The sources said Amirabdollahian, during his meetings in Oman, signaled Tehran’s willingness to de-escalate the situation provided demands are met, including a permanent ceasefire in Gaza – which Israel has ruled out in its desire to crush Hamas.
The sources said Iran was also seeking to restart negotiations over its controversial nuclear program. Those talks have been deadlocked for nearly two years, with both sides accusing each other of making unreasonable demands.
And Tehran also asked for assurances that the United States would not be involved in the event of a “controlled attack” against Israel by Iran – a request the United States rejected in a response transmitted via Oman, the sources said.
Iran’s retaliatory strikes would be “non-escalatory” against the United States “because they don’t want the United States to get involved,” the US intelligence source said, indicating that Iran would not would not order its proxy militias in Syria and Iraq to target U.S. forces in those countries.
US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that Iran was threatening to launch a “significant attack on Israel” and that he told Netanyahu “our commitment to the security of Israel against these threats from Iran and its proxies is foolproof.”
Israel has said it will respond to any Iranian attack.
“If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will respond and attack in Iran,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday in a message posted in Farsi and Hebrew on the social media platform X.
The “enigma” of Iran
Iranian diplomacy experts said such strict demands from Tehran were typical of the hardline approach taken by Tehran in the negotiations. But the contacts nevertheless underlined its interest in avoiding a major conflict.
Eurasia Group analyst Gregory Brew said Khamenei was “trapped in a strategic conundrum.”
“Iran must respond to restore deterrence and maintain credibility with its Resistance Front allies. But on the other hand, retaliation to restore deterrence would likely result in an even larger and more destructive Israeli response, probably with US assistance,” he said.
The Iranian sources said the United States had asked Iran to show restraint and leave space for diplomacy, warning Tehran that in the event of a direct attack, it would stand with Israel.
The Iranian sources said Iran believed Netanyahu was seeking to drag Tehran into a war, and so his retaliation could be moderate, avoiding direct strikes on Israeli territory and relying on Tehran’s allies.
The US envoy to the Middle East called the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Iraq to ask them to deliver a message to Iran urging it to reduce tensions with Israel, said a source close to the matter.
A source familiar with the matter said the United States might agree to restart nuclear negotiations if it would prevent a conflagration.
“If we are talking about negotiations and not reaching an agreement, then it seems worth the price if the outcome minimizes the risk of a regional escalation that the United States would be drawn into,” the source said. who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group said Iran’s dilemma was “figuring out how to retaliate in a way that saves face without losing its mind.”
“Israel is much more unpredictable than the United States,” he said. “The Supreme Leader clearly fears that instead of having the deterrent effect he might hope to achieve, an attack on Israel will only fuel a counter-escalation he might have hoped to avoid.”
(Writing by Tom Perry; additional reporting by Steve Holland, Jeff Mason, Arshad Mohammed and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; editing by Daniel Wallis)
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