Vance sent a letter to Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, last week, few details of which have been offered by the White House. Trump told reporters the letter was focused on assisting Iran with “medical supplies and various things.”
Vance suggested Monday that there was reason to believe the U.S. and Iran could still come to an agreement.
“We’ve had a number of good conversations with the Iranians,” he told reporters when he was asked about the letter, adding that he and Trump “both feel pretty good about the prospects for potentially coming to a negotiated settlement. We’re going to keep on working at it.”
The region remains on edge about the prospect of the U.S.’ resuming full-scale operations against Iran. The back-channel efforts are playing out as Israel and some Middle East allies lobby Trump on the way forward in the eight-month-old war, which has rattled global markets and wreaked havoc on Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pushed for renewed strikes even before the Israeli election last week as he sought to highlight his security credentials to a public deeply scarred by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
But the war has also loomed large for American voters ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Oil prices dropped sharply Monday as renewed diplomatic efforts to end the war appeared to show signs of progress.
Trump noted the drop Monday in a speech in Washington, which was billed as his closing argument to Americans, and sought to minimize the scale of the conflictwhich has cost U.S. taxpayers at least $47 billion.
“I don’t know if you even call it a war, because we haven’t been doing any fighting for months,” Trump said. Earlier he posted on Truth Social that “Iran wants a settlement, as soon as possible.”
He has frequently asserted that the two sides are close to a deal to end the conflict, though one has so far failed to materialize.
Iran has repeatedly said it is open to a diplomatic resolution, but has largely stuck to its demands.
Tehran “has delivered a firm and rational response to the American side and the ball is now in America’s court to prevent a war,” Parliament Speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tuesday.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
