SVE NEWS & CNN.COM Sharing Series — Iran engages in urgent diplomacy as it braces for Israel’s response to missile attacks

As of last week, Israel had not given any assurances that it would not target Iran’s nuclear facilities, CNN reported.

Israel has for decades been planning attacks on Iran’s nuclear capabilities, and just two years ago simulated striking them in a military exercise. Israel is also suspected of carrying out assassinations against Iranian nuclear scientists in recent years, and Iran’s nuclear facilities have come under siege from cyberattacks, likely from Israel—the most famous being the Stuxnet virus, which was able to penetrate Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility.

‘Our strike will be powerful’

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant issued a strong warning to Iran about his country’s response on Wednesday.

“Our strike will be powerful, precise, and above all – surprising. They will not understand what happened and how it happened,” Gallant said.

The Gulf states, broadly, are eager to stay on the sidelines of the conflict, the Arab diplomat said. While Iran has publicly warned that any parties seen as aiding Israel will be treated as aggressors, it is also unlikely that Iran’s neighbors would explicitly come to Tehran’s defense in the event of an Israeli attack.

But Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have told both the US and Iran that they will not allow Israel to use their airspace to strike Iran, the Arab diplomat and another source familiar with the matter told CNN. Jordan also will protect its airspace from any unauthorized intrusion, regardless of the origin, a Jordanian official said.

The US does not believe that Iran wants to become entangled in a full-scale war with Israel, and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera this week that Netanyahu “is the only one who wants a war and to set the region on fire to stay in power.”

But the US has still urged Tehran, through backchannels, to calibrate its response if Israel attacks, an official said.

While Qatar regularly speaks to the Iranians and relays back to the US what they say, the US official said that ultimately “we just do not know what [Iran] will do.” Key voices within Iran will have different ideas about if and how to respond to Israel, but that will depend on the scale and scope of the highly anticipated Israeli move, another US official said.

This official said that messaging from Iran has been consistent both publicly and privately since Tehran launched its barrage of missiles at Israel earlier this month and there has not been a significant change in messaging.

Iran has been particularly interested in getting help from Saudi Arabia in preventing an Israeli attack and using their influence with Washington to help find a solution to the crisis, the Arab diplomat told CNN.

Officials from each country have met three times in less than a month, and Araghchi traveled to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to “consult on regional developments” and to “try to stop the crimes of the Zionist regime in Lebanon and Gaza,” he told local media.

The world is watching Israel’s every move as it contemplates how to respond. But at least until Saturday at sundown, Israel will be at a standstill to mark Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement and the holiest day of the year in Judaism. And though it’s not impossible Israel might launch action, shops, restaurants and other services will be closed, public transport will not be operating and even the country’s main airport — the Ben Gurion in Tel Aviv — will be shut down.

CNN’s Kayla Tausche, Dania Karni and Katie Bo Lillis contributed reporting.