Iran will not launch an attack on Israel if there is a ceasefire deal in Gaza, Tehran officials said on Tuesday.

It is the first time Iran has linked its threatened retaliation against Israel to the Gaza peace and hostage negotiations.

Israel has been braced for a twin attack from Iran and its proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon for two weeks after the assassinations of the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

Iran is said to fear an attack on its nuclear facilities should a regional war break out, while Israel is reportedly plotting strikes on the country’s water and oil infrastructure to shatter its economy and bring down its hard-line Islamic regime.

For two weeks the US has sought to avert an escalation by rushing massive military capability into the region while pursuing a ceasefire deal.

Its strategy hinges on a new round of ceasefire talks scheduled to take place in Qatari capital Doha on Thursday.

Three “senior Iranian officials” quoted by Reuters have now linked the country’s planned military response to the Doha talks.

Iran was even considering sending a representative to the talks as an observer to “maintain a line of diplomatic communication” with the US while negotiations proceed, one of the unnamed officials said.

“Iran, along with allies such as Hezbollah, would launch a direct attack [on Israel] if the Gaza talks fail or it perceives Israel is dragging out negotiations,” Reuters reported one of the sources as saying. “The sources did not say how long Iran would allow for talks to progress before responding.”

Iran does not directly control Hezbollah but has significant influence over both it and Hamas as the principal funder of both terrorist groups.

Reuters quoted a source close to Hezbollah who said Iran would give the negotiations in Doha a chance but would not give up entirely on its intention to strike Israel.

A ceasefire in Gaza would give Iran cover for a smaller “symbolic” response, one of the sources said.

The US-led diplomatic effort to avert war remains intense, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken expected to arrive in the region on Tuesday night.

Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, and Olaf Sholtz, the German chancellor, spoke to Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday, expressing their concern about a regional war if Iran follows through on its threats to attack Israel directly.

The US, Britain, France, Italy and Germany all urged Tehran to stand down in a joint letter.

However, Iran continued to insist on its right to respond to an attack on its soil.

Nasser Kanaani, the spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: “The declaration by France, Germany and Britain, which raised no objection to crimes of the Zionist regime, brazenly asks Iran to take no deterrent action against a regime which has violated its sovereignty.”

Instead of issuing such demands, Western nations should “once and for all stand up against the war in Gaza and the warmongering of Israel”, Mr Kanaani added.

Iran will “never give in to pressure, to sanctions and to bullying and considers it has the right to respond”.

Israel’s Army Radio reported that Israel has conveyed messages to its allies warning that it would strike Iran if it launched an attack.

“We take the declarations and statements of our enemies seriously. Therefore, we are prepared at peak readiness in offence and defence,” IDF Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

On Tuesday, it was reported that Mr Blinken will visit Israel, Egypt and Qatar in a last-ditch attempt to secure a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

Hamas had been holding out on attending the talks but on Tuesday the US said that may change.

“Qatar has assured us that they will work to have Hamas represented,” said State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel.

There was no response to the report that Iran may want to join the negotiations from either the US or Israel at the time of going to press.