US warned Iran of ‘terrorist threat’ before Jan 3 attack, says official

WASHINGTON – The United States government privately warned long-time antagonist Iran about a “terrorist threat” within its borders ahead of a deadly attack in January that was claimed by the Islamic State militant group, a US official said on Jan 25.

While the official said the warning about the Jan 3 attack –

two suicide bombings in the south-eastern city of Kerman

that killed nearly 100 people and wounded scores – was routine, analysts said it may imply a US effort to build trust with Iran.

Such an effort would come against the backdrop of attacks by Iran-backed proxies on Western interests, including

the Oct 7 Hamas rampage

that killed some 1,200 in southern Israel and missile attacks on Saturday on an Iraqi airbase housing US troops.

“The US government followed a longstanding ‘duty to warn’ policy that has been implemented across administrations to warn governments against potential lethal threats. We provide these warnings in part because we do not want to see innocent lives lost in terror attacks,” said the US official on condition of anonymity.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the warning on Jan 25.

Dr Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies think-tank in Washington, said the warning may reflect a wider US desire to seek dialogue with Iran despite recent attacks by Iranian-backed proxies on US, Israeli and other Western interests and the advances of Teheran’s nuclear programme.

“This is an olive branch,” Dr Alterman said, adding that US President Joe Biden’s administration came into office believing dialogue between Washington and Teheran could benefit both sides.

Efforts by Mr Biden, a Democrat, to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal – which Republican former president Donald Trump abandoned in 2018 – have failed, but Dr Alterman suggested that Biden aides still wanted to explore ways to talk to Teheran.

“They have always believed in the desirability of dialogue, and that the problem is about what and on what terms,” he said. “This was an opportunity to begin to build trust, which strikes me as a page from the diplomatic playbook.”

Dr Aaron David Miller of Washington’s Wilson Centre think-tank largely concurred, noting the failed efforts on the nuclear deal and the improbability of transforming relations that have been largely antagonistic since the Islamic Republic’s birth.

“You can’t transform the US-Iranian relationship. All you can do is to look for opportunities... to transact, to de-escalate, and avoid an escalatory ladder that would lead to war,” he said. REUTERS