By Kevin Liptak, CNN
Pete Hegseth says in relation to Iran: "We're just getting started." Photo: ANDREW HARNIK / AFP
Iranian intelligence has sent word to the United States it could be prepared to open talks on how to end the war, according to people familiar with the indirect messages, but US officials say there are no negotiations underway and that potential "off-ramps" are unlikely to materialise in the near term.
The messages were conveyed through a third country to the CIA, the people familiar said. But so far, it does not appear the channel has resulted in any serious discussions on how to bring the war to an end.
Instead, American officials have described entering a new, more intensive phase of the joint operation with Israel to degrade Iran's missile programme and ensure it not be able to obtain a nuclear weapon.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a briefing on Wednesday (US time) the US was "just getting started". And lawmakers who were briefed by the administration on Tuesday on Iran said they did not hear a distinct endgame, including potential efforts at diplomacy.
Iranian leaders, for their part, haven't demonstrated public willingness to negotiate as their ranks grow slimmer as a result of Israeli attacks.
Yet the messages, however preliminary, do suggest an eventual pathway exists to brokering an end to the war. CNN has reached out to the CIA for comment. The New York Times first reported on the messages from Iran.
American officials insist they have not been in talks - either directly or through a third party - with the Iranians since nuclear negotiations fell apart days before the war began. They have, however, received messages from other countries offering to help defuse the conflict.
"Since this thing went kinetic, we've had a number of reach-outs," a senior Trump administration official said on Tuesday, putting the number of nations at nearly a dozen. "It's not dissimilar to what we had before, people wanting to see if they can help solve it, and we've talked to them."
Steve Witkoff, the US president's foreign envoy. Photo: AFP / ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS
To date, that has not resulted in any robust exchange of messages between the United States and Iran. Steve Witkoff, the president's foreign envoy who led three rounds of negotiations with Iran before Trump ordered strikes, has not been in touch with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who in the past he exchanged text messages with.
Witkoff has also not spoken with Iran's top national security official, Ali Larijani, the senior administration official said.
"We're not using anyone as an interlocutor. This is a military action, and it's got to run its course," the official said.
And Iran's deputy foreign minister said on Wednesday that no message is being sent to the US.
"We have not conveyed any message to Americans because we are now defending ourselves," Majid Takht-Ravanchi said on MS Now. "We are in a defensive mode. And what we are concentrating on is to protect ourselves, to defend ourselves. So, no message is being sent and we haven't received any message by America or by anybody else."
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi Photo: AFP
Still, behind the scenes, many officials have wondered whether a potential agreement could eventually be struck that would stop the conflict while satisfying all of Trump's conditions: that Iran dismantle its nuclear and missile programmes and end its support for military proxy groups in the Middle East.
Who, exactly, would agree to that on Iran's part is unclear. The country's leadership remains in flux after the death over the weekend of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"The people we had in mind are dead," Trump acknowledged bluntly on Tuesday about his vision for future Iranian leadership. "Now we have another group. They may be dead also, based on reports. So I guess you'll have a third wave coming in. Pretty soon, we're not going to know anybody."
While Iranian clerics gather to select a new supreme leader, Israel has vowed to assassinate anyone who replaces Khamenei.
"Every leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue and lead the plan to destroy Israel, to threaten the United States and the free world and the countries of the region, and to suppress the Iranian people - will be an unequivocal target for elimination," Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz wrote on social media.
For his part, Trump has offered mixed views of his willingness to engage with Iran. He told The Atlantic magazine on Sunday he intended to speak with Iran's new leaders.
"They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them," he said.
A day later, Trump posted that the Iranians "want to talk. I said 'Too Late!'"
-CNN
