Vance contacts senior Iranian official in bid to revive negotiations

Before President Trump launched Operation Epic Fury in February, Vance advocated intensifying diplomatic efforts.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

US Vice President JD Vance contacted Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, at President Donald Trump’s direction in an effort to determine whether Washington and Tehran could resume negotiations and avert a possible US attack on Iran in the coming weeks, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday evening.

Vance sent a letter to Rezaei, according to US officials and people familiar with the matter. One source said President Trump knew about the initiative and directed the outreach.

A person familiar with the matter said subsequent contacts between US and Iranian officials focused on establishing a possible framework for negotiations rather than the details of a peace proposal.

Rezaei said last week that Tehran would not negotiate until certain core Iranian demands were met.

President Trump, meanwhile, has publicly raised the possibility of renewed military action.

“We are not negotiating with them. We will have an outcome one way or another. It will happen soon,” he said last week.

Before President Trump launched Operation Epic Fury in February, Vance advocated intensifying diplomatic efforts.

President Trump later placed him in charge of negotiations, and the vice president traveled abroad twice to meet Iranian representatives.

A memorandum of understanding reached in June collapsed two weeks after it was signed amid conflicting interpretations over reopening shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Negotiations mediated intermittently by Qatar and Pakistan have also failed to resolve differences between the sides.

The United States has demanded Iranian nuclear concessions at the beginning of negotiations, while Tehran has sought immediate economic relief.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi nevertheless indicated that Tehran remained open to diplomacy.

“While our brave armed forces are fully prepared to defend the homeland, Iran continues to give diplomacy a chance to succeed,” he wrote on social media.

A spokesperson for Vance declined to comment on the contacts, while the White House referred questions to the vice president’s team.

An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said he had no information about the outreach. Rezaei and the Supreme National Security Council could not be reached for comment.

“They wanted to make a deal, but they like to drag it out. Maybe they’re waiting for the elections or something — but it won’t help them,” President Trump told reporters Tuesday night.