US Vice President JD Vance has written to Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in an effort to test whether the two countries can agree on a framework for negotiations, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
A person familiar with the matter told the newspaper that the letter was sent at President Donald Trump’s direction and that the president was aware of it. The move is understood to be an attempt to gauge whether diplomacy can open a path back to talks, rather than a detailed peace proposal, which has not yet emerged.
Trump has denied directing Vance to begin peace talks, saying instead that the contact concerned medical supplies. Speaking to reporters, he said: “Iran needs help with medical supplies. Basically, it’s getting supplies in to help people that are not well.”
The outreach comes at a tense moment, as Trump weighs a short, intense new attack on Iran after next week’s US midterm elections. Rezaei said last week that Iran would not negotiate until its core demands were met, underlining how far apart the two sides remain.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, via Times Now: https://www.timesnownews.com/world/middle-east/us-iran-war-latest-updates-jd-vance-letter-mohsen-rezaei-trump-strikes-warning-article-156424913
