With Trump's Consent, Vance Writes to Iran Hardliner Rezaei in a Fresh Bid to Revive Peace Talks

President Donald Trump is threatening to restart the war against Iran after next week's U.S. midterm elections. Even so, Vice President JD Vance is reaching out to one of Iran's most powerful hardline leaders in an effort to revive peace talks. U.S. officials and people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal about the contact.

According to those familiar with the matter, Vance has sent a letter to Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. Rezaei was previously the longest-serving commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday evening, Trump said he had agreed to Vance's request regarding the contact with Rezaei. 'They need things, including medical supplies,' Trump said. He added: 'Vance asked me what I thought about it. I said, ‘If you want to do it, that's fine.’'

According to one person familiar with the matter, the letter was sent on Trump's direction. Vance is testing whether Washington and Tehran can find common ground on some issue that might stop Trump from giving a final order, within the next few weeks, for a short but intense attack on Iran.

Several U.S. officials believe that talking to Iran's hardline leaders could produce a better diplomatic outcome. After the U.S. and Israel killed leaders of the Iranian regime at the start of the war, those hardliners became even more powerful in Tehran.

Last week Trump said his administration was not negotiating with Iran, while also hinting that an attack could come soon. 'We're not talking to them,' he said at the time. 'Something will happen one way or another, and it will happen soon.'

According to a person familiar with the matter, neither Vance's letter nor the subsequent discussions between U.S. and Iranian officials addressed the specifics of a peace proposal. The focus instead was on building a possible framework for talks.

Last week Rezaei had said Tehran would not negotiate with Washington until several of Iran's fundamental demands were met.

Vance has publicly supported the Iran war but has privately expressed concern about prolonging it. Before Trump launched 'Operation Epic Fury' in February, he argued for a stronger diplomatic effort. Trump later made Vance the lead negotiator; the vice president travelled abroad twice to meet Iranian representatives in pursuit of a final deal to end the conflict.

In June the two sides signed a 'memorandum of understanding.' But it collapsed just two weeks after signing because the two sides interpreted it differently on how shipping through the Strait of Hormuz would be normalized.

Vance's diplomatic push comes ahead of the U.S. midterms, as Republicans fear losing seats in the House of Representatives and the Senate and could lose control of one or both chambers of Congress. Some voters cite the Iran conflict and rising fuel prices as reasons for dissatisfaction with Trump and his party. Vance is also considered the current frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2028 presidential election.

A spokesperson for Vance declined to comment on the discussions. Asked for comment, the White House referred questions to the vice president's team. A spokesperson for Iran's foreign ministry said he had no information about Vance's outreach. Rezaei and the Supreme National Security Council could not be reached for comment.

In a social media post, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said: 'While our brave armed forces are fully prepared to defend the homeland, Iran continues to give diplomacy a chance to succeed.'

Rezaei's emergence as an important interlocutor could sideline other influential Iranian figures, such as Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi or parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. Rezaei led the Revolutionary Guard during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. Earlier this month he said Tehran could target the United Arab Emirates, and he also threatened attacks on data centers and internet cables across the region. On Sunday Rezaei met in Tehran with the security chiefs of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey, as all sides looked for ways to calm tensions.

Trump has made destroying Iran's nuclear program a top national security priority of his second term, but his approach has repeatedly shifted — at times seeking a diplomatic settlement, at other times choosing bombing to force Tehran to submit. Talks mediated by Qatar and Pakistan started several times and then stopped. The U.S. insists Iran must make concessions on its nuclear program at the very start of negotiations; Tehran, for its part, demands immediate economic relief from sanctions.

The United States maintains an economic blockade on Iran's ports in the Strait of Hormuz. Oil exports through the contested waterway have continued, but not enough to bring down high fuel prices. With no clear diplomatic path forward, Trump has told recent campaign rallies that he believes war with Iran will start again; by his account, the conflict will end only when he decides it should.