United States Vice President JD Vance has sent a letter to Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, in an 11th-hour push to restart peace talks, according to US media reports. The letter, which has reportedly been “received well” by Iran, aimed to gauge whether the US and Iran can narrow their differences enough to stave off a potential new round of US strikes on Iran, The Wall Street Journal has reported. The outreach comes as Trump warns the US’s Gulf allies to prepare themselves for a brief, high-intensity military campaign after next week’s US midterm elections, according to the Journal.
Trump previously said the US may “do another little Epic Fury”, referring to the military operation against Iran that began in February. So, what does Vance’s letter mean for the prospects of renewed US-Iran conflict – or a return to negotiations? Vance’s letter to Rezaei, who heads Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, has not been published, but several US media outlets have reported on its contents.
The Journal quoted an informed source as saying the letter and follow-up discussions did not cover specific peace terms, but rather a potential “framework for negotiations”. Another source told the Journal the goal was to see if “Tehran and Washington could find enough common ground to persuade Trump not to give a final order for a short, intense attack on Iran in the coming weeks”. The New York Times reported that Vance’s letter proposed a meeting between US and Iranian officials soon, with Vance heading a US delegation as he did during previous US-Iran talks in June.
The Times reported the letter was passed to Rezaei by Qatari mediators on Sunday. Vance called for direct talks and said Iran’s nuclear programme would have to be on the table from the outset, according to US and Iranian officials quoted by the media. If Iran accepts, the negotiations could take place as soon as next week, said the officials, naming Qatar or Turkiye as possible venues.
Iran has not publicly commented on the letter, but the Times reported that it had been “received well by Iran’s leaders”. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also spoke of ongoing negotiations in a social media post on Wednesday, saying Iran “continues to give diplomacy a chance”. Rezaei is expected to officially respond to Vance’s letter on Thursday, according to the Times.
Hamidreza Azizi, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera that Vance’s move to address the letter to Rezaei is significant, reflecting a possible shift in Washington’s view of who holds influence in Tehran. Vance has consistently appeared more averse to drawn-out military conflict with Iran than Trump. While publicly backing the war, the vice president reportedly preferred to continue with more intensive diplomacy before the US joined Israel in the war on Iran in February.
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