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WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday confirmed that Vice President JD Vance had reached out to an Iranian hardliner in a new peace overture days before the midterm elections.
“He asked me what I thought and I said if you want to do that that’s OK,” Trump told reporters following a Wall Street Journal report describing a letter sent by Vance to Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
Rezaei is a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and his influence is rising in Tehran, where he met Sunday with a delegation from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
He has been hostile to negotiations with the US and threatened this month to expand Iranian attacks on targets in neighboring Arab countries, including data centers and Internet cables, the Journal reported.
The precise timing of Vance’s outreach and the content of the letter were not immediately clear, but the message reportedly mentioned a new framework for negotiations.
Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, previously were the country’s lead negotiators — including meeting with Vance and special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for 21 hours during April talks in Islamabad.
Trump has threatened to resume bombing Iran after the Nov. 3 congressional elections.
“We may do another little Epic Fury,” he said at a Friday rally in Fort Myers, Fla. “Or they’ll agree. If they’re smart, they’ll just say, let’s get down to business. But, you know, I doubt they’ll do that because perhaps they’re not smart.”
