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United States Vice President JD Vance has spent the past fortnight directly engaged in indirect negotiations with Iran aimed at brokering a new ceasefire and resuming stalled nuclear discussions, Axios reported, citing two sources with knowledge of the matter.
The US vice president's direct involvement elevates the indirect track to the administration's highest echelons, underscoring an initiative by Vance to extricate Washington from a conflict he explicitly blamed for the Republican Party's crushing electoral defeats this week. According to US officials and regional sources cited by Axios, US President Donald Trump currently remains amenable to letting diplomatic efforts proceed to test whether an agreement can be forged. "We're talking to them," Trump told reporters on Friday when asked about his message to Iran. Nonetheless, insiders cautioned that should Trump alter course and mandate renewed military action, US forces stand fully prepared to launch strikes on an expedited schedule. Behind closed doors, Vance has maintained daily discussions with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Pakistan's Army Chief Asim Munir and other mediators, Axios reported. White House special envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner are likewise engaged in the diplomatic track. Well-informed sources revealed that Vance, alongside Qatari and Pakistani interlocutors, has evaluated setting up a working-level technical meeting involving American and Iranian delegates soon, though such a meeting has not yet materialised. The office of the US vice president chose not to issue any statements concerning the ongoing talks. Vance emerged as the most doubtful voice among Trump's inner circle before the war's outbreak in late February, persistently pushing for a diplomatic resolution. He previously headed the US negotiating team during an April summit focused on Iran held in Islamabad and played a central role in securing the bilateral memorandum of understanding last June. Vance later led the American delegation for direct talks hosted in Switzerland, which led Tehran to pledge that UN inspectors would be welcomed back to nuclear facilities. However, the resulting agreement collapsed shortly afterwards when units of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps resumed attacks on commercial shipping. The current diplomatic momentum began gathering pace a fortnight ago when Vance dispatched a formal letter addressed to Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and a close confidant of Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, proposing the resumption of direct talks. Iranian representatives signalled that Vance's communication generated favourable momentum towards reviving negotiations. On Wednesday, Vance reasserted that the conflict constituted the primary driver behind voters' rejection of the GOP. While participants involved in the ongoing mediation characterised headway as being made, they depicted the overall pace as extremely sluggish. Diplomatic engagement persisted on Friday morning as Trump conferred with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani concerning Doha's efforts to bridge gaps dividing Washington and Tehran. Via an official release from his secretariat, Sheikh Tamim underscored the imperative to "continue dialogue and pursue diplomatic means to resolve differences, spare the region further escalation, and ensure freedom of maritime navigation and the security of energy supplies." (ANI)
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