President Donald Trump on Wednesday denied reports that he directed Vice President JD Vance to revive peace negotiations with Iran.
The president’s denial comes after several outlets reported earlier in the day that Vance sent a letter to Iran’s national security chief aimed at revitalizing peace talks, marking the most senior-level outreach by the United States to the Middle Eastern country in several months.
Trump directed Vance to send the letter to Iranian Security Council chief Mohsen Rezaei, according to the Wall Street Journal, while Axios reported the president “was enthusiastic” about the strategy. The reports came as Trump has hinted he will resume military operations targeting Iran in earnest after the midterm elections next Tuesday.
When pressed on Vance’s letter as he traveled to a midterm rally in Ohio, Trump suggested he believed it was about humanitarian efforts.
“No, they need help with medical supplies and various things,” the president told the press.
“He asked me what I thought. I said, if you want to do that, that’s OK. Basically, it’s getting supplies in to help people that are not well,” Trump said.
Vance is viewed as holding more ideological views than Trump, leaning more toward isolationist and noninterventionist policies than the president. The vice president has publicly suggested he holds disagreements with Trump over the Iran war, conceding earlier this month that the role he plays within the White House is one of persistently questioning the rationale for the conflict.
Qatar, a third-party mediator between the U.S. and Iran, presented the Middle Eastern country with a draft deal seeking to end the conflict this week, according to Reuters. Iran on Wednesday appeared to reject the plan, saying it marked only “unacceptable ideas and not an offer.”
The $47 billion war reached the eight-month mark on Wednesday after Trump initially launched strikes on Iran in late February, citing concerns that radical Islamic jihadists in the country could use nuclear weapons against the world.
In the months since, the war has triggered a global energy catastrophe, due to its impact on the Strait of Hormuz, the tiny waterway between Iran and Oman through which much of the world’s oil and gas supply passes. After Iran sought to leverage control over the strait in the war, essentially stopping the flow of fuel through the passageway, the U.S. established a military escort system in the area aimed at resuming the flow of energy by protecting vessels passing through.
The Pentagon claimed Sunday that “in recent months,” 95% of ships navigating the strait have sailed through safely despite Iran’s “unwarranted aggression.” Experts say the number of Iranian attacks on vessels attempting to pass through the strait reached record levels in October, keeping the global energy market in limbo.
The conflict has become a sore point for Republican candidates down the ballot campaigning in the midterm elections, as Democrats have sought to link them to Trump’s war, which polling indicates has proved unpopular with voters.
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Trump has stood by the war as he travels across the country for midterm rallies seeking to boost vulnerable Republicans.
“Think, if they had a nuclear weapon, we would be a tinderbox,” he said during a South Carolina rally on Oct. 21. “We would be, I mean, our lives would be very different because they are nuts. They are nuts. They don’t play games with me. They don’t play games.”
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
