Source : The Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTON, November 11, 2026 – US Vice-President JD Vance is considering holding face-to-face talks with a senior Iranian security official as Washington looks for a way out of the war with Iran, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing US and Middle Eastern officials, according to Anadolu Agency.
The Journal said President Donald Trump had recently signalled to aides and foreign counterparts that he was open to Vance taking the lead in renewed negotiations with Tehran. Discussions about a possible meeting remained at an early stage, with no date set, the report said, though Washington and Tehran were communicating through mediators and regional allies about next steps.
According to the Journal, Vance sent a letter in October to Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, requesting a meeting. Anadolu noted that the move would carry political risks for Vance if talks failed, while a successful outcome could strengthen his standing.
Iranian officials have publicly rejected reports of an imminent meeting. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday there were no plans for Rezaei to meet Vance, Iran International reported. Rezaei, speaking to Al Mayadeen, dismissed claims “about continuing negotiations or holding a meeting in Qatar” as “a pure lie,” Al Jazeera reported, and said Tehran was still waiting for a “clear and explicit” US response to seven conditions it has set for talks and for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
An IRGC-affiliated outlet, Tasnim, citing a senior security official in Tehran, also denied reports of a planned Rezaei–Vance meeting in Doha, saying that until Washington took “practical action” on the seven conditions, “no plans for negotiations with the American side will be considered,” Iran International reported. Those denials followed remarks by Turkey’s intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalin, who, according to the newspaper Türkiye, had said Qatar could host such a meeting.
Iran has not published a full list of the seven conditions. Rezaei and Araghchi have said they include lifting sanctions and the US naval blockade, and ending the fighting on all fronts. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has described some Iranian demands as unrealistic and said he would not say the sides were “on the verge of a breakthrough.”
Qatar has been mediating between the two sides. Axios has reported that Vance has been in frequent contact with Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and that a proposed plan would have Washington ease the naval blockade and release some frozen Iranian funds, while Tehran would allow nuclear inspections and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. A June framework agreement aimed at a final settlement has not produced one. The Wall Street Journal also said Trump had privately questioned that June framework, arguing it had given Iran time to recover before the blockade was imposed, Anadolu reported.
The Wall Street Journal account should be read alongside those Iranian denials. No meeting has been announced by either government, and Rezaei said in the same round of comments that no negotiations were currently under way.
Source: The Wall Street Journal via Anadolu Agency; Al Jazeera, Iran International and The Hindu; BRICS News’s X
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