JD Vance being touted as preferred mediator as Tehran turns on Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner
www.telegraph.co.uk
JD Vance eyed to take over Iran talks
Connor Stringer, Joe Barnes
Iran refuses peace talks with Trump’s ‘backstabbing’ negotiators
JD Vance being touted as preferred mediator as Tehran turns on Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner
Iran has refused to negotiate with Donald Trump’s top envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, accusing them of “backstabbing”.
Gulf sources told The Telegraph that the Iranians would not sit down with Mr Witkoff, the administration’s Middle East envoy, and Mr Kushner, Mr Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, because of the military strikes that hit Tehran hours after they held talks in February.
JD Vance, the vice-president who has remained largely quiet during the conflict, is now being touted as chief negotiator should fresh discussions go ahead in Islamabad, Pakistan, later this week.
“Vance is preferred,” a Gulf source said of the Iranians. “They don’t want to work with Jared and Witkoff because they stabbed them in the back.”
A second Gulf source said the Iranians believed Mr Vance would stick to his word and that his participation is seen as the appropriate seniority for negotiations with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the parliament speaker.
Mr Vance is widely viewed as a sceptic of the US president’s “Operation Epic Fury”.
The vice-president’s possible role as leader of a new US negotiating team signals the White House’s intent to head off further economic pain and de-escalate, even though the strategy for ending the war remains unclear.
JD Vance is the 'preferred' negotiator should fresh discussions go ahead
One diplomatic source said Tehran had lost trust in Washington’s delegation and was sceptical of Mr Kushner and Mr Witkoff’s seriousness about ending the conflict.
The US launched strikes on the Iranian capital killing Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, two days after wrapping up negotiations in Geneva.
Several Gulf states had left those talks convinced a deal to avoid a full-blown conflict was possible.
While Islamabad is yet to be confirmed as the venue for negotiations, Shehbaz Sharif, the Pakistani prime minister, said on Tuesday that the country was “ready and honoured” to host negotiations to end the war.
Talks between the US and Iran have been indirect so far, relying on intermediaries.
Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey have passed messages between the US and Iran as rising energy prices and the collateral effects on markets and business from the war hit home.
The foreign ministers of the three countries reportedly held separate talks with Mr Witkoff and Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister.
Mr Vance is also said to have spoken with Benjamin Netanyahu – who remains adamant that Israel should continue bombing Iran – and discussed components needed to end the war.
Mr Trump dispatched Mr Witkoff and Mr Kushner to Geneva to hold what would be the last round of negotiations with Iran before the US president decided to launch his military campaign on Feb 28.
Their aims were threefold: Iran could not have a nuclear weapon, meaning its Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites had to be closed, its terrorist proxies shut down, and ballistic missile production curbed.
The negotiations broke down when Tehran handed over a seven-page agreement, described by US officials so full of holes it was akin to “Swiss cheese”, to Mr Witkoff and Mr Kushner on the last day of talks on Feb 26.
With the war in its fourth week, Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, continue to weigh joining the conflict, angered at Tehran’s strikes on their territory.
Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the Saudi crown prince, reportedly urged Mr Trump to press on with the war, describing the conflict as a “historic opportunity” to remake the region.
In a series of phone calls, MBS urged the president to press for the destruction of Iran’s hardline government, arguing that it posed a long-term threat to the Gulf, according to the New York Times.
The talks coincide with Mr Trump’s about turn on a 48-hour deadline he had imposed on Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the vital sea passage for oil shipments that has been blocked since the start of the war.
In a move which reassured markets, Mr Trump on Monday said he would call off strikes for five days while peace talks took place, prompting the FTSE 100 to swing into the green and Brent crude to fall by 14 per cent to $96 (£76) a barrel.
Claiming that the US had held “very strong talks” with Iran, Mr Trump suggested America would “jointly control” the key oil route and promised there would be a “very serious form of regime change” in the Islamic Republic.
It was unclear whether Mr Trump was suggesting he would have a direct hand in Tehran’s governance, or who the new Iranian leader could be, as well as what role, if any, the Gulf states would play in the country after the war.
Iran denied any such talks had taken place.
“These are sensitive diplomatic discussions and the US will not negotiate through the press. This is a fluid situation, and speculation about meetings should not be deemed final until they are formally announced by the White House,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said.
>> This is from "The Telegraph" so take with a pinch of salt.
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