WSJ: Iran signals through proxies that it wants de-escalation, resumption of talks

Iran is signaling through intermediaries that it is ready to de-escalate the war with Israel and resume negotiations on a nuclear deal with the United States. This was reported by the newspaper The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed European and Middle Eastern officials familiar with the matter.

They said that Iran is urgently signaling that it wants to end hostilities and resume negotiations on its nuclear programs, sending messages to Israel and the United States through Arab intermediaries.

Tehran has told Arab officials that they are ready to return to the negotiating table if the United States does not join the strikes. They also conveyed messages to Israel saying that it was in the interests of both sides to contain the violence.

But with Israeli warplanes free to fly over Tehran and Iranian counterattacks causing minimal damage, Israeli officials have little incentive to stop the attacks before doing more to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities and further weaken the country's government, the journalists noted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks will continue until Iran's nuclear program and ballistic missiles are destroyed, and it has shown no signs of stopping. He also said that regime change is not the goal, but could be an outcome, given the weakness of the Iranian leadership.

A pause in the fighting could give Iran space to regroup and exert pressure in the international arena against Israel's campaign. It would also be a victory for Tehran to keep the United States from engaging in attacks.

Tehran is probably betting that Israel cannot afford to be stuck in a war of attrition and will eventually be forced to seek a diplomatic solution, Arab diplomats who have spoken to the Iranians said.

In addition, Iran has told Arab officials that it could accelerate its nuclear program and expand the scope of the war if there is no prospect of resuming negotiations with the United States.

There are no signs that Iran is ready to make new concessions in nuclear talks, Arab mediators say.

• On the night of June 13, Israel launched Operation "Rising Lion". The IDF launched a "preemptive strike" against Iran's nuclear program facilities to prevent Tehran from obtaining weapons of mass destruction.
• Immediately after the strikes, the United States disavowed the operation, assuring that it was not involved .
• Later it became known that Trump approved Israel's attack on Iran and only pretended to oppose it. In this way, the US administration wanted to mislead Iran and prevent it from hiding people involved in the development of nuclear weapons.