Iran Preparing for Major New Round of Fighting With US, Source Says
A Tehran source told The National that assessments in Iran point to the war resuming even as talks continue.
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File photo: Azadi Tower in Tehran. Photo: Frode Ramone, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Iran is preparing for a "major round of fighting" with the United States, a source in Tehran told The National on Saturday, as indirect diplomacy shows little sign of a breakthrough after seven months of conflict.
The assessment comes as both sides continue to weigh military options alongside stalled talks over the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's nuclear programme.
What Tehran is signalling
"The military option [for the US] has not been abandoned, and this is clear to the Iranians," the source said, according to The National. "But the Iranians are also preparing for a major round of fighting and have the capabilities to do so."
The same source claimed: "The door to diplomacy remains open and has not been closed. But assessments in Iran are that the war is resuming."
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has previously said his country would fight even if it meant an "apocalyptic" war, according to The National.
Diplomacy still stuck
Talks in New York last month produced no breakthrough after several meetings, The National reported. Tehran conveyed through Qatar a seven-day plan to resolve the Hormuz stand-off, with the waterway expected to reopen on the sixth day if agreed steps were implemented.
The United States later sent a counterproposal. Iran has yet to respond and appears unlikely to accept it, having insisted its own proposal is the only way forward, according to the report.
US and Iranian officials describe a sequencing dispute: Tehran wants Washington to take concrete steps before Iran fully reopens Hormuz, while Washington wants the strait reopened first.
Nuclear offer on the table
According to sources in Tehran cited by The National, Iran has also proposed transferring its stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 per cent to a third party. The plan envisages diluting the material first, then transferring it under mechanisms recognised by the International Atomic Energy Agency — going beyond President Masoud Pezeshkian's public comments on dilution and verification.
Separately, Reuters reported on 1 October that Iranian sources said Tehran was preparing a broader and more forceful response if the United States resumes large-scale attacks, while continuing a diplomatic push officials privately see as unlikely to succeed.
Al Jazeera's Saturday live coverage noted a US official called ongoing Iran talks "constructive" but said nuclear issues were still delaying a deal.
Reporting is based on The National, with overlapping context from Reuters and Al Jazeera. Claims from unnamed sources could not be independently verified.
