Iran has told regional intermediaries that any ceasefire with the US and Israel must be tied to sweeping security guarantees and compensation, as back-channel diplomacy intensifies amid a widening regional conflict.

According to reports US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff has made at least two approaches to Tehran via intermediaries to sound out the possibility of launching ceasefire talks, but Tehran has responded by taking a very hard line.

According to officials familiar with the discussions, Tehran has outlined three key conditions for ending hostilities:

·       Recognition of what it calls Iran’s legitimate rights

·       Payment of reparations for damage caused during the conflict

·       “Firm international guarantees against future aggression” by the US and Israel

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian publicly reiterated those demands late on March 11 Bloomberg reports, saying the only path to ending the war was “recognizing Iran’s legitimate rights, payment of reparations, and firm int’l guarantees against future aggression.”

Pezeshkian said he had delivered the message directly to “the leaders of Russia and Pakistan,” according to remarks cited by officials involved in the diplomatic exchanges.

Having already fought one short 12-day war with Israel last July, Iran is seeking assurances that Israel will not launch a third attack on Iran if hostilities in the current conflict end. “Iran is particularly concerned Israel will attack again after the current war ends,” several officials familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

Whether Washington is prepared to offer security guarantees to Iran is uncertain. Ukraine has been demanding the same arrangements from Washington in the US-brokered peace talks and while the Trump administration has promised to provide them, no deal has been signed yet.  It is also unclear whether the US could guarantee that Israel would abide by the same pledge.

The negotiations are being conducted through informal channels facilitated by European and Middle Eastern governments, according to people briefed on the talks, with the neutral Oman playing a key role in the previous rounds of talks just before the start of Operation Epic Fury. The official cited President Donald Trump as saying Iran’s potential new leaders “have indicated they want to talk and eventually will talk.”

In the meantime, in public statements, Tehran has taken a hard line and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said two days ago that the possibility of talks was “off the table” for the meantime. At the same time a government spokesman warned the US to get ready for “$200 oil” as Tehran seeks to punish Washington for what it says was an unprovoked attack on its sovereignty and the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran has continued to launch missiles and drones toward Israel and Gulf states and six more tankers were hit yesterday that sent oil prices back over $100 a barrel.

The other regional powers are also working to calm the situation and have stepped up diplomatic efforts to contain the crisis. Saudi Arabia intensified its engagement with Tehran last week in an attempt to prevent further escalation, while other Gulf states have also been communicating with both Iran and the US, officials said.

Oman has positioned itself as a leading mediator in the region. Sultan Haitham bin Tariq spoke with Pezeshkian on March 11 — the first such conversation since the conflict erupted. Omani state media said the sultan condemned Iran’s attacks on Oman after drones struck fuel tanks at the port of Salalah in the country’s south. Oman is the only one of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries that does not host US military bases, although it does have security agreements with Washington.

Tensions have also emerged between Washington and Tel Aviv. The Pentagon publicly criticised Israel for “extreme” attacks on Iran oil production facilities this week that went much further than the US were expecting.

Despite the decapitation of the Islamic Republic regime in the opening stages of the war, Iran’s leadership has remained intact and Trump’s claims to have largely destroyed Iran’s military capabilities appear to be unfounded. The US navy admitted this week that it would not provide naval escorts for commercial shipping through the Straits of Hormuz as it was “too dangerous to traverse.” Military analysts have said that the Straits cannot be opened again until the US occupies and controls the whole Persian coastline, but Trump has ruled out putting US boots on the ground. As bne IntelliNews explained in the permits-for-passage editorial, Trump needs a quick end to this war because the looming midterm elections and a large-scale invasion is off the cards as a result.

By replacing the Ayatollah Khamenei with his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, who is tightly aligned with the fanatical Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Iranian leadership has signalled that it will continue fighting and keep the Straits closed for as long as the war continues.

US and Israeli officials have hinted they may accept more limited outcomes, including the dismantling of Iran’s missile programme and naval capabilities rather than the overthrow of the Islamic Republic., Bloomberg reports.