Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US special envoy Steve Witkoff have reopened a line of communication in recent days, Axios reported on Monday, citing a US official and a source with knowledge.
Araghchi reportedly initiated the dialogue by sending text messages to Witkoff focused on ending the war, which is now in its third week.
The foreign minister denied the report on X, writing: “My last contact with Mr. Witkoff was prior to his employer’s decision to kill diplomacy with another illegal military attack on Iran. Any claim to the contrary appears geared solely to mislead oil traders and the public.”
A US official claimed Araghchi “was lying and that he was the one who initiated the contact with Witkoff,” according to the outlet.
It’s unclear how substantive the purported messages were, or how many have been exchanged, but they would represent the first known direct communication between the US and Iran since the start of Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28.
President Trump signaled Monday that Iranian officials were indeed reaching out to the US and looking for an off-ramp to end the war.
“They want to make a deal. They’re talking to our people,” Trump said during an event at the White House.
“I don’t know if they’re ready yet,” the president cautioned, noting that he’s unsure who’s actually in charge of Iran with so many top leaders having been killed.
Araghchi wasn’t viewed as a key decision-maker within the Islamic regime prior to the war, according to Axios, and US officials don’t believe he has the authority to make decisions related to the war now.
However, because of the foreign minister’s pre-existing relationship with the Trump administration – as well as his apparent coordination with the current de facto civilian leader of Iran, Ali Larijani – he is seen as the “go-to interlocutor.”
Over the weekend, Trump indicated Tehran wasn’t yet serious about wanting to end the war.
“Iran wants to make a deal, and I don’t want to make it because the terms aren’t good enough yet,” the president told NBC News, adding that any agreement would require Iran to completely abandon any nuclear ambitions.
A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces told CNN on Sunday that the military was planning for at least three more weeks of combat operations against Iran — with “deeper plans” for an additional three weeks beyond that, if needed.
Defrin’s timeframe extends the war beyond the initial “four weeks or so” estimation Trump put forward on March 1.
