Exclusive: Iran rejects West offer to renew nuclear talks if it forgoes Israel retaliatory strikes

Iran has rejected tempting offers by European intermediaries - including renewing talks on Tehran's nuclear programme - in return for restraint against Israel, after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in its capital last month, sources told The New Arab's Arabic language service Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Tehran dismissed the "insincere" offers amid Western calls for halting or limiting Iranian retaliatory strikes on Israel, in an effort to bolster efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal with talks set to take place on Thursday.

Iranian officials said the offers were merely "buying more time" for Israel, adding that if de-escalation calls were sincere then pressure would be placed on Israel to stop the war, the sources said.

They stressed that Tehran's response to Hanieyh's assassination on its soil is "inevitable", adding that Israel would be "punished" for "crossing red lines".

In a statement on Monday, the US and its European allies urged Iran to de-escalate with strikes on Israel believed to be imminent.

France, Germany, and the UK on Monday urged Iran and its allies to "refrain from attacks that would further escalate regional tensions and jeopardize the opportunity to agree (to) a cease-fire and the release of hostages".

In a call, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned Iran's new reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian there was "a serious risk of miscalculation and now was the time for calm and careful consideration".

The White House joined the European call, warning that a "significant set of attacks" by Iran and its allies was possible this week, saying Israel shared the same assessment.

The United States has deployed an aircraft carrier strike group and a guided missile submarine to the region in support of Israel.

Iran FM reaffirms 'right to respond' 

Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Baqeri Kani reiterated on Tuesday that his country has a "legitimate and inherent right to take countermeasures" against Israel.

He made the remarks in a phone call with his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani, after Rome also joined calls from Western nations for restraint.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran insists on its inherent and legitimate right to take countermeasures [for Haniyeh's assassination] while continuing its efforts to stop the aggression against Gaza," Baqeri told Tajani on Tuesday.

Baqeri accused Israel of "obstructing" international efforts to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza war, arguing that the recent suspected Israeli assassinations in Iran, Lebanon, and Syria were "clear examples of the Zionists' efforts to expand the scope of the war to other countries in the region".

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani had also criticised the Western call for restraint a day earlier.

"The declaration by France, Germany and Britain, which raised no objection to the international crimes of the Zionist regime, brazenly asks Iran to take no deterrent action against a regime which has violated its sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said in a statement.

Russian officials under instructions from President Vladimir Putin have also engaged in discussions with Iran. The secretary of Russia’s national security council, Sergei Shoigu, visited Tehran and described the assassination of Haniyeh as "tragic" and something that was "impossible to bypass" in talks with Iran's government.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov separately said Moscow was "calling on everybody to refrain from escalating the situation from turning into a disaster for all regional players", according to the state-run TASS news agency.

"Political ways out of the existing problems must be found," it quoted Bogdanov as saying.

Russia is one of the few international suppliers of advanced arms willing to do business with Tehran even as its nuclear programme enriches uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels.

Iran for years has asked for Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets. Tehran has also sought Russia's S-400 surface-to-air missile defense system, a possible deterrent for the US-made F-35 fighter jets flown by the US and Israel.

Putin also hosted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday in Moscow.

'A psychological warfare'

The recent flurry in diplomacy came following reports by US and Israeli intelligence that an Iranian attack on Israel may occur this week, before the Gaza ceasefire talks on Thursday, according to Axios.

Sources told the outlet that Israel and the US do not know the exact timing of the attack.

"The Iranians openly signal (on the ground) their determination to carry out a significant attack in addition to their public statements that the attack will exceed the one they carried out in April. Iranian public statements do not reflect any retreat," a senior Israeli official told Axios.

While Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard has announced new military exercises as airlines reschedule flights with few clues given on how or when Tehran will respond to the Israeli assassinations.

"There may be no attack at all, or there could be one tonight," an insider from the Iranian government cryptically told The Financial Times.

"Waiting for death is more difficult than death itself. Iran has launched a psychological warfare campaign to keep Israel’s military, security, and logistical capabilities on edge, denying residents of the occupied territories any sense of calm."

This report includes contributions from Iranian journalist Saber Gul Anbari for Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.