Iranian officials responded to the assassination of one of their scientists by warning the West of possible retaliation, reported The Washington Post.

During the burial procession of the nuclear chemist, Ahmadi-Roshan who was killed in broad daylight, “Thousands of angry Iranians demonstrated against the United States and Israel.” In addition, Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, “also threatened revenge in a letter of condolence to the scientist’s family…”

Although relations between Iran and the West continue down a dubious course and Iranians face accusations of illegal nuclear weapons development, the regime’s officials have “signaled a readiness to negotiate on at least one of the nuclear disputes behind the country’s worsening feud with the United States.”

In an effort to appease Western concerns, Asharq-Alawsat reported that Iranian officials permitted the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to lead a trip consisting of a “high-level UN nuclear agency delegation” to Tehran, possibly on January 28. However, it remains uncertain if the delegation would have the opportunity to visit sites covered in a November IAEA report, or if the delegation would solely engage in talks with Iranian representatives.

In the November report, the IAEA stated it “was able to build an overall impression that Tehran ‘carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device’.” However, Iranian officials claim the report is “baseless.”

A diplomat speaking on behalf of the Tehran-bound delegation remarked, “The aim of this mission is to try to get answers once and for all to all the questions raised by the IAEA’s report in November.”

In analyzing international relations with Iran, Ray Takeyh for The Washington Post, opined that the assassination of the Iranian scientist is “self-defeating in the sense that [it does]… little to slow Iran’s nuclear program,” and instead plays “into the regime’s hands as it seeks to fracture the international community.”

To maintain solidarity in the Western coalition, according to Takeyh, it must be stressed that “it is Iran’s behavior that remains outside the parameters of legality so long as Tehran continues to enrich uranium in defiance of U.N. resolutions and threatens to imperil peaceful maritime traffic. Any action that distracts attention from Iran’s illegal behavior only retards the efforts to disarm the Islamic Republic.”

Furthermore, in an op-ed by David Ignatius for The Washington Post, the author suggested that as US-Iranian relations remain severely confrontational, it is critical that “both [nations] take quiet steps to avoid miscalculations and misunderstandings that can lead to an inadvertent military conflict.”

He further pointed out weaknesses in Iranian-US relations and added, “Today Washington and Tehran lack any similar means of communication in a crisis… They communicate indirectly, through the Swiss embassy, which is inadequate.”

As such, Ignatius proposed that, “the United States and Iran should explore the possibility of direct contact through the sort of back channel that nations use to communicate urgent messages - namely, their intelligence services.” In effect, such a communication channel may amend an issue that “has frustrated past efforts to engage Iran - which is the lack of an authoritative intermediary.”

In conclusion, the author warned that a very limited amount of time remains for communication improvements. “Economic sanctions are creating a worsening crisis for Ian, one that is a potential threat to the regime’s survival. And more potent sanctions are on the way. Meanwhile, Israel the United States and other allied nations are conducting covert actions against the Iranian nuclear program,” Ignatius explained.