Vance's mission to get America out of the Iran war; Beijing entered into consultations with Tehran.
Finding a way out of the Iran war is the most urgent and difficult challenge for the Trump administration, given the anger of American public opinion about this war. US President Donald Trump threatened to resume military operations, and Secretary of War Pete Guest also prepared for the possibility of an escalation of the conflicts. However, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant, with Trump's support, turned to China and demanded that Beijing use its infiltration of Iran to end the war. According to a US official familiar with the matter, China conveyed this message to Tehran.
The Trump administration's diplomacy towards Iran was led by Jeddy Vance, the vice president of the United States. Last month he sent names in a conciliatory tone to Mohsen Razai, Iran's top security official, and this week also attributed the Republicans' heavy defeat in the mid-term elections to the war. Those statements were criticized by Vance's opponents, but according to Ali al-Thawadi, a Qatari official who acts as a mediator between the White House and Tehran, it won him concessions in the Middle East.
Al-Thawadi told me on Friday: "Iran's leaders are waiting to see whether these elections have really changed America's behavior or not." They took Vance's letter as a sign of respect and welcomed Vance's misreading of the war. Now they want America to stick to that position on an issue that Democrats and Republicans seem to agree on. Iran's leaders, like America's allies in Europe and the Persian Gulf, want to make sure the United States is reliable.