JD Vance has reportedly sent a letter to a top Iranian official in an attempt to revive peace negotiations, days after Donald Trump threatened Tehran with a new campaign of strikes.
Sources familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal that the US vice president wrote to Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in an effort to revive the talks.
One source said that the letter was sent at the request of Trump, which the president denied on Wednesday.
When pressed on the matter ahead of traveling to a rally in Ohio, Mr Trump replied, "No."
“He asked me what I thought. I said, if you want to do that, that's okay. Basically, it's getting supplies in to help people that are not well,” Mr Trump clarified.
According to the Journal, Vance used the letter to test whether the two nations could find enough common ground to encourage Trump not to order further strikes on Iran.
The president made his latest threat towards Tehran on Sunday.
"Do I make a deal with them, or do I finish them off? That's the only question," he told Fox News.
While the US has not carried out a strike against Iran since early September, the situation in the Middle East has become more complicated and volatile particularly after an escalation of Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia.
On Wednesday, two diplomats briefed on the matter told the Associated Press that US officials have told several Middle East countries and regional allies to be prepared for potential renewed military action against Iran after next week’s midterm elections in the United States.
Trump has not made a final decision on whether to carry out new strikes against Iran, the diplomats stressed.
The president, however, has repeatedly said that he is weighing ordering new military action once the 3 November elections in the United States are over.
Those threats and the fresh US urgings for allies to prepare for potential retaliation are putting the region on alert that a return to major operations could now be on the horizon.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X on Wednesday that Tehran “continues to give diplomacy a chance to succeed” and is working with mediators to review ideas that Tehran included in a proposal floated last month - summarily rejected by Trump - that the Iranians still want to see used as the basis to return to a ceasefire.
The conflict in the Middle East, which began with US-Israeli attacks in February, has slowed to an impasse since the collapse of a June interim agreement to end the war.
Mr Trump had sought to ensure Iran would never gain access to nuclear weapons, but eight months on Iran has unprecedented influence over the vital Strait of Hormuz, and Trump’s popularity is waning at home ahead of the midterm elections.
Though the US has not carried out a strike against Iran since early September, the situation in the Middle East has become more complicated.
The conflict has spread, with Iran-backed Houthi rebels carrying out attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure and airports. A Saudi-led coalition has responded with its own deadly attacks on Houthi-held territory in Yemen.
Read MoreInside Israel: Netanyahu is a king without a kingdom – this is what happens next
Israel live: Trump suggests he could interfere in coalition talks
Asian shares and U.S. futures are mixed after Google parent Alphabet's earnings disappoint
Bolsonaro denies fleeing Brazil in first public statement after landing in US
Four scenarios that could play out after Israel’s election
Netanyahu faces a near impossible task to survive – this is why
