Trump has authorised the Vice President, JD Vance, to negotiate with Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday 11 November, citing US and Middle Eastern officials. Iranian officials have publicly denied any plan for a meeting.
The paper reports that Vance is considering meeting Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, face to face, possibly in Doha. According to the WSJ, as relayed by Iran International and Israel Hayom, Vance wrote to Rezaei in October asking to meet. No date is set.
US officials told the paper the discussion is preliminary, and the two sides are still talking through intermediaries.
Middle Eastern officials told the WSJ that mediators have proposed confidence-building steps. The US would move aircraft carriers farther away and ease its blockade of Iranian ports. In return, Iran would let 25 tankers through Hormuz. Iranian officials reportedly want the blockade lifted, frozen assets released and oil sanctions eased before talks resume.
Citing two officials, the paper also reports that Trump has privately questioned whether the June agreement Vance helped negotiate was a mistake. A White House official denied this. Israel Hayom notes that those talks in Switzerland produced a memorandum of understanding but no Iranian commitment on its nuclear programme or on Hormuz.