Iran calls US outreach a 'positive step' with aide in Qatar for talks
Foreign Minister Araghchi says Tehran has studied a letter from U.S. Vice President Vance. President Trump denies ordering new peace talks, while Iran warns of sweeping retaliation if attacked again.
Archive image · Photo: IAEA Imagebank / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped and resized)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called Washington's attempt to open a dialogue a “positive step,” telling Al Jazeera on Saturday that Tehran had studied a letter from U.S. Vice President JD Vance. He said an aide was in Qatar to continue consultations with mediators. Senior Qatari diplomats had already held extensive talks in Tehran on Friday.
The letter was reportedly addressed to security official Mohsen Rezaei, with Vance seeking commitments on Iran's nuclear program. President Donald Trump rejected reports that he had ordered renewed peace talks and said, without elaborating, that the letter concerned medical supplies. At a campaign rally in Daytona Beach, he said: “We are never going to give them a nuclear weapon.”
Tehran has also hardened its rhetoric. Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has called for an “immediate and effective response, without geographical restriction” to any new attack. Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it had intercepted drones, including over the Riyadh region; Yemen's Houthis vehemently denied reports of a drone sent toward the Mecca region.