Vance Writes to Iran's Security Chief Offering to Restart Talks
US Vice President JD Vance has sent a personal letter to Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, offering to restart diplomacy and avert fresh conflict after the US midterm elections, according to The Guardian. The letter was sent on Sunday and followed mediation that was mostly led by Qatar.
The Supreme National Security Council is Iran's top body for security decisions. According to the same report, the letter asks Tehran to agree to commitments on its nuclear programme at the start of a process that would lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf waterway, within seven days. In return, the United States would offer relief from sanctions, which are government penalties that restrict trade and finance.
The main obstacle is the sequence of steps. Iran is reluctant to make upfront commitments that cannot be undone, such as sending its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, meaning uranium refined to a high level of purity, to a third country, if US measures such as lifting oil export sanctions could be reversed. Washington wants commitments on removing that stockpile up front. Iran has proposed diluting the stockpile inside Iran so that it can no longer be used for a nuclear weapon.
China has been discussed as the only country with sufficient standing to act as a third-party guarantor that both sides would keep to their commitments, the Guardian reported.
Iran has stated seven conditions for a deal. They include lifting sanctions, ending asset freezes and ending the war on all fronts, which would require a ceasefire by Israel in Lebanon. The Guardian also reported that Washington chose to send the letter to Rezaei rather than to negotiator Mohammad Ghalibaf or Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, because it judged that decision-making power rests with those closest to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a powerful Iranian military force. Ghalibaf and Rezaei met Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei last week to discuss the risk of a new war.
The Wall Street Journal, citing US officials, reported that Vance contacted Iran's security chief in an effort to resume peace negotiations. Reuters reported that US President Donald Trump said Vance's outreach was related to medical supplies.
Earlier in October, after a campaign trip to Alaska, Vance said any agreement with Iran would require Iran to reduce its nuclear enrichment capacity. Reuters reported those remarks. Vance has also told Tehran that avoiding renewed US strikes will require nuclear negotiations, according to the Jerusalem Post.
On the margins of the UN General Assembly, Iran made an offer proposing to shorten the time before nuclear talks would begin.
The stakes are also military. US Senator Chris Murphy said at a Middle East Institute briefing that he had received a detailed briefing on the US war plan for Iran, and he described the plan as "insane." Separately, the Guardian reported that Iran has prepared plans to strike back against US interests in the region by hitting desalination plants, internet cables and electricity grids across the Gulf.
