Tehran has received Vice President J.D. Vance’s letter proposing new peace talks between the U.S. and Iran, according to the Islamic republic’s media, amid reports that factions in Washington are angling to restart diplomacy.
Tasnim, a media outlet affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported that Mr. Vance’s letter addressed to Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei has landed and that leadership is crafting a response.
The report added that the U.S. has not met Iran’s seven conditions for peace talks to resume. It did not detail what the letter said.
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The news follows reports that Mr. Vance sent a letter via Qatari mediators this week calling for a resumption of direct negotiations.
The vice president would reportedly lead the new American delegation, and the letter stressed the importance of discussing Iran’s nuclear program immediately.
President Trump said Wednesday he let Mr. Vance reach out to the Iranian leadership but that the communication was focused on delivering medical aid and other supplies to the country.
Direct negotiations between Iran and the U.S. haven’t taken place for months following the disintegration of the Pakistani-brokered Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding. The agreement, which outlined a ceasefire and provided a 60-day window for negotiations, fell apart once Iran began attacking commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Since then, sporadic peace proposals have been delivered to the U.S. or Iran via Pakistani or Qatari mediators.
The most recent high-profile proposal came from Iran last month following the U.N. General Assembly in New York. The proposal included a seven-day phased removal of the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for a ceasefire and a return to negotiations.
But Washington has been unwilling to remove its naval blockade against Iran, or ease sanctions, without serious concessions from Tehran on its nuclear program. Mr. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have repeatedly insisted that any peace deal with Iran that does not include a provision outlawing uranium enrichment would be unacceptable to Washington.
Iran has long insisted that its nuclear program is peaceful, despite enriching uranium far beyond what would be necessary for civilian purposes.
Tehran has also said it won’t begin negotiations with the U.S. over uranium enrichment until it receives major sanctions relief. Iranian officials have rejected assertions from Washington that the nuclear issue has been discussed at all during any prior round of negotiations since the war began.
As both sides remain at loggerheads, there are indications that the kinetic war could heat up again next month. Several reports have noted that the Pentagon has developed specific strike plans for Mr. Trump, targeting energy and civilian infrastructure in Iran, that could be executed after Tuesday’s midterms.
Despite the looming threat, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said Thursday that he has noticed signs that a breakthrough in diplomacy is coming soon.
“I think in the next two weeks, you could have dramatic steps forward of everybody saying, let’s bring the temperature down, let’s start again, let’s get rid of the hostile kinetic activity,” he told CNN at the Global Perspectives event in Doha, Qatar.
Mr. Barrack has not been directly involved in negotiations between Iran and the U.S.
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