Iran is pushing back against US demands for direct negotiations over its nuclear program, warning neighboring countries that host US bases they could become targets if they support any potential attack, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Saturday.
Tehran has notified Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, and Bahrain that any assistance to a US attack, including allowing the use of their airspace or territory, would be considered a hostile act. Such an act "will have severe consequences for them," the official said.
While rejecting direct talks with US President Donald Trump, Iran seeks to continue indirect negotiations through Oman, a long-established communication channel between the two adversaries, the official said.
"Indirect talks offer a chance to evaluate Washington's seriousness about a political solution with Iran," added the official.
The official added that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has placed Iran's armed forces on high alert.
However, the official believed a deal needed to be reached within roughly two months, fearing Israel, Iran's long-time enemy, might attack if talks dragged on.
Iran attempted to pay a Georgian drug trafficker $200,000 to assassinate a Jewish religious leader in Azerbaijan, according to security officials cited by The Washington Post.
The operation, coordinated by the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is part of what officials described as Tehran’s growing use of criminal proxies for targeted killings abroad.
“The [Iranian] officer handed Aslanov a photo of a prominent Jewish figure in Azerbaijan and detailed instructions on how to kill him,” one official said. “Aslanov agreed to kill Rabbi Shneor Segal for a price tag of $200,000.”
According to the Western and Middle Eastern security officials, the plot—thwarted by Azerbaijan’s State Security Service in early January—also included plans to target an educational center.
Aslanov and a local accomplice were arrested and charged with conspiracy to carry out a terrorist act, as stated by the State Security Service and reported in local media at the time.
The officials said the operation was arranged by Mohammad Golkari, an Iranian national with longstanding ties to organized crime, who helped coordinate Aslanov’s meeting with Quds Force operatives in Iran. After receiving instructions and the target's photo, Aslanov returned to Baku and recruited Azerbaijani citizen Jeyhun Ismayilov to assist with surveillance.
It is not the first such Iranian attack to be foiled in Azerbaijan. In 2023, then Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said Iran was responsible for a foiled plot to attack the Israeli embassy in Azerbaijan.
“Tehran stands behind the attempt ... Iranian terror is a global threat, as we saw in the past few days in Azerbaijan in an attempted attack against the Israeli Embassy in Baku, as well as in recent months in Cyprus and Greece in attempted attacks against Israelis and Jews,” he said at the time, saying Iran had funded and issued instructions to the terror cell that attempted the attack.
In the year before the war began in October 2023, Israel's chief of Mossad, David Barnea, said 27 Iran-backed plots had been foiled in Europe, Africa, the Far East and South America.
But Iran-backed plots to kill Jews and Israelis abroad have ramped up since the Gaza war, dozens foiled globally, in addition to plots inside the Jewish state.
Last week, ahead of the passover holiday next week, Israel's National Security Council warned the Israeli public to remain vigilant when traveling abroad amid concerns that Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and global Jihadist groups will continue to actively advance attacks against Jews and Israelis worldwide.
"With the collapse of the cease-fire and resumed fighting in Gaza, we are expecting to see an increase in attempted attacks against Israeli/Jewish targets abroad carried out by local initiatives or lone-wolf attackers," the Council said in a statement.
It named Iran as "the main instigator of global terrorism against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world, both directly and through its proxies."
Iran relies on criminal networks to carry out extraterritorial operations. Other plots linked to Iranian agents have been reported in Germany, Peru, and the United States, where two men were convicted last month of accepting payment to kill Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad.
The likelihood of a US military attack on Iran hinges on Washington's assessment that no path to a nuclear agreement exists and that military action would be a low-cost option, according to Iranian analyst Amir-Ali Abolfath.
In an interview with Etemad Online, Abolfath suggested that while the US appears interested in direct negotiations, Iran currently prioritizes indirect talks.
However, he added that there are unofficial reports indicating Tehran might be open to direct discussions if indirect talks progress positively and serve the country's interests.
Abolfath believes the current US military posture in the region serves a dual purpose of signaling both a willingness to negotiate and the potential for military engagement, as part of a strategy combining diplomatic and military pressure.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that the removal of US sanctions could serve as a confidence-building measure to pave the way for negotiations with Washington.
Speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran, Araghchi’s remarks marked a re-emphasis on a position Iranian officials have frequently taken since the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) in 2018. It is unclear whether his comments signaled a policy shift or were intended to test the international response ahead of any potential talks.
Following the US exit from the JCPOA under President Donald Trump, senior Iranian officials, including then-Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, maintained that Tehran would not enter into new negotiations unless sanctions were lifted or the US returned to the deal. That stance remained largely consistent throughout the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign.
Now, with Trump back in office and reportedly considering a tougher approach—including military threats—Iran’s renewed insistence on lifting sanctions before any negotiations may be seen either as a negotiating tactic or as a reaffirmation of a long-standing position.
It is not yet known whether this demand was included in the official letter Tehran sent to President Trump recently. Public discourse has increasingly focused on the format of possible talks, with Iranian officials emphasizing their preference for indirect negotiations over face-to-face meetings. Analysts suggest this preference could be driven by both domestic political considerations—such as preserving the government's image after years of hostile rhetoric toward Trump—and strategic calculations, including buying time in the hope that future developments may shift the diplomatic landscape.
Insisting on sanctions relief as a precondition could also function as a means of slowing down the diplomatic process, allowing Tehran to manage expectations and retain leverage. While such a stance could be seen as obstructive, it may also be calculated to prompt a measured response from Washington. Notably, the Biden administration, which preceded Trump’s return, took a more restrained approach to sanctions enforcement even before formal nuclear talks resumed in April 2021.
Iranian oil exports to China began to rise prior to the 2020 US election and have remained high into 2024. This trend may factor into Tehran’s thinking, with the possibility that pressing the issue of sanctions could influence US decision-making or encourage a pause in new restrictions as a way to facilitate dialogue.
A new US THAAD aerial defense battery has been supplied to Israel amid President Donald Trump's threats of military action against Iran unless it agrees to a nuclear deal.
An extremely heavy American military cargo plane, a C-5M Super Galaxy, landed at Israel's Nevatim airbase in the south of the country on Saturday.
Flight trackers such as MenchOsint reported that the plane, which is capable of carrying the THAAD air defense systems, stayed at Nevatim for around eight hours.
An Israeli intelligence source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Iran International that the THAAD system had indeed arrived this weekend.
Iran’s ultra-hardline Kayhan newspaper, managed by a representative of the Supreme Leader, has repeated weekend calls to assassinate US President Donald Trump to avenge the 2020 killing of IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani.
On Sunday, the daily expressed support for what it described as revenge for the drone strike in Iraq, ordered by Trump during his first time in office, just one day after a piece had warned "a few bullets are going to be fired into that empty skull of his".
"The shot hasn’t even been fired yet, and already a bunch of local lackeys and US bootlickers are totally freaking out,... since their skulls are as empty as Trump’s, they’ve gotten scared," the outlet wrote on Sunday.
Since the assassination, Trump and several of his aides were put on a hit list but the issue of Soleimani's killing had been somewhat dulled down in recent months amid Trump's renewed campaign of 'maximum pressure' and calls to make a fresh nuclear deal.
The column, presented as a fictional conversation, called advocates of nuclear talks with the US “America’s bootlickers”. Iran's Supreme Leader continues to refuse to engage in direct talks, but has warmed to the idea of using mediation in the wake of Trump's warning that if a new nuclear deal is not reached within two months, the US will bomb Iran.
The former head of the Parliament's National Security Committee reacted to the newspaper's piece on Saturday, criticizing it as inflammatory while the situation remains so volatile.
Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh wrote on X, “Iranians hate those who promote war and terrorism. If you had the courage for war, you would’ve gone to Lebanon. If you have an assassination plan, don’t attribute your recklessness to Iran.
“The nation pays the price for the extremists’ warmongering and terroristic bluffs. The government must disavow this destructive movement.”
Tabnak website also criticized the article, warning of its costs to a nation already suffering a social and economic crisis.
"A newspaper, which happens to be state-affiliated, is publicly promoting a slogan whose cost will ultimately be paid by the people. It seems that if these ultra-revolutionary individuals truly have the motivation to sacrifice for the country, there are plenty of real opportunities to demonstrate that sacrifice," it wrote.
The paper said assassinating Trump would be “a good thing and would bring joy to Palestinians” and armed groups.
The US continues to confront Iran's Houthi militia in Yemen in the Red Sea region amid the group's maritime blockade on commercial shipping.
Ordered by the Supreme Leader in 2023 as a means to target Israeli shipping in order to force a ceasefire in Gaza, the blockade has since affected global shipping, with Trump vowing to tackle the group head on.
