Tehran will hold the United States responsible for any Israeli attacks on its nuclear facilities, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in a letter to the United Nations published on Thursday.
“We believe that in the event of any attack on the nuclear facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Zionist regime, the U.S. government will also be involved and bear legal responsibility,” Araghchi said, according to the Saudi outlet Al Arabiya.
In addition, the foreign minister posted on X that if the international community did not take “preventive measures” against Israel, Iran would be compelled to take “special measures in defense of our nuclear facilities and materials.”
Iranian officials on Wednesday dismissed as “psychological warfare,” reports that Israel is preparing a military strike on its nuclear facilities, responding to dramatic coverage by CNN and Axios.
The reports cited fresh U.S. intelligence assessments indicating that Israel is doing just that, to be ready if negotiations between Washington and the Islamic Republic collapse.
Tehran’s pushback came amid a rare admission from within the regime, reported by Reuters, that it lacks a viable “Plan B” should the ongoing nuclear negotiations fail.
Iranian media reacted sharply to the recent CNN report, which suggested the U.S. has gathered intelligence pointing to a significant Israeli shift toward a military option over concerns that a new nuclear deal would fail to eliminate Iran’s ability to build a bomb. Tehran labeled the reports part of a Western intimidation campaign.
“Iran expects a broader wave of propaganda and psychological operations in the coming days by Western countries aimed at intimidating or pressuring our negotiation team,” read a statement from Tehran’s Tasnim news agency.
Araghchi echoed this sentiment, warning the Islamic Republic might walk away from the talks—though his words appeared measured, likely signaling a negotiating tactic: “Iran is currently evaluating whether or not to participate in the next round of talks,” he said.
At the same time, three Iranian sources quoted by Reuters admitted that the regime in Tehran has no concrete fallback strategy if the talks with Washington collapse—a scenario that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned of just a day earlier.
The fallback plan, such as it is according to those officials, relies on leaning more heavily on ties with Russia and China. They acknowledged, however, that this path is flawed: China is preoccupied with its trade war with the U.S., and Russia remains bogged down in the Ukraine war.
‘Iran’s economy cannot recover’
The Islamic Republic’s economic troubles are already deep, with American sanctions biting hard and water and energy infrastructure faltering, sparking repeated public protests in recent years. On the regional front, Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance” has crumbled, with Bashar Assad no longer in power in Syria and Hezbollah devastated in Lebanon.
Since the return of President Donald Trump to the White House, his administration has reinitiated its maximum pressure campaign, which is marked by strong sanctions. “Without sanctions relief to unlock oil sales and unfreeze financial assets, Iran’s economy cannot recover,” one source told Reuters.
Negotiations resumed on April 12 after weeks of Trump-era threats to strike Iran’s nuclear sites. Four rounds of indirect talks have been held so far, mediated by Oman, with Araghchi and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff even meeting directly—an unusual occurrence since Trump unilaterally pulled out of the original 2015 deal during his first term.
Last week, Trump struck an optimistic tone, claiming Iran had “more or less agreed” to the terms of a new deal. But Iranian officials have since issued a series of furious statements, especially in response to Trump’s continued threats of military action and his warning that Iran must “act fast or something bad will happen.”
Khamenei rejected out of hand Washington’s demand that Iran stop enriching uranium altogether, calling it “outrageous and insulting,” and predicted the talks were likely to fail.
Although Iran’s Foreign Ministry insists it will continue to participate, the negotiations remain shaky. A major sticking point is uranium enrichment: The U.S. has made conflicting statements, sometimes demanding Iran halt enrichment entirely, and at other times saying low-level enrichment would be tolerated. Iran has offered to cap enrichment at low levels, far from weapons-grade, but refuses to halt it outright.
Trump has repeatedly said he opposes another Middle East war, despite his threats. “We’ve seen this over and over—wars spin out of control. We won’t let that happen,” he said during his May 13-16 Gulf tour. Still, he’s warned of “maximum pressure” and possible sanctions on countries that buy oil from Iran if diplomacy fails.