Vance Letter to Iran’s Security Chief Presses Nuclear Talks as Trump Calls It Medical Aid

Vice President JD Vance has written to Iran’s top security official in an effort to restart peace negotiations, as President Donald Trump weighs new strikes on Iran after next week’s midterm elections.

The letter went to Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. officials and people familiar with the matter.

In the letter, Vance stressed that any negotiations to head off U.S. military strikes “require discussions on the nuclear issue,” a U.S. official told Axios. The official declined to say when it was sent.

Vance suggested the letter to Trump, and “the President was enthusiastic about the letter,” the official said. Rezaei is among Iran’s top national security officials and has a direct line to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

Trump gave a different account Wednesday. Asked before leaving for a rally in Ohio whether he had directed Vance to open talks, he answered, “No,” The Independent reported.

“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,” Trump said, describing the letter as an effort to help Iran obtain medical supplies.

Strikes still on the table

The outreach comes days after Trump threatened Tehran again. “Do I make a deal with them, or do I finish them off? That’s the only question,” he told Fox News on Sunday.

Two diplomats told The Associated Press that U.S. officials have warned several Middle East countries and allies to be ready for possible renewed military action against Iran after the Nov. 3 elections. They said Trump has not made a final decision.

The biggest obstacle to new talks is sequencing. Iran wants the United States to lift its naval blockade, release frozen funds and allow oil sales first, while Washington wants nuclear negotiations to restart before any sanctions relief.

Rezaei has publicly questioned Iran’s nuclear restraint. “When America is waging such a war, people naturally ask: Why shouldn’t we pursue nuclear weapons ourselves?” he told Iranian state television in August.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X on Wednesday that Tehran “continues to give diplomacy a chance to succeed.” He said Iran is working with mediators on ideas from a proposal it floated last month, which Trump rejected.

The war began with U.S. and Israeli strikes in February and has stalled since a June interim agreement collapsed. The United States has not struck Iran since early September, but the region has grown more volatile.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have attacked Saudi oil sites and airports, and a Saudi-led coalition has answered with deadly strikes on Houthi-held territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking to supporters after Tuesday’s election, said Israel has “a singular historical opportunity, together with our partner President Trump, to remove the existential threat of Iran once and for all.”

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