US President Donald Trump confirmed on Fox News that Washington has direct channels of communication with the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In the same interview, the head of the White House also actually stated that he was in no hurry to complete the operation against the Islamic Republic. Read more in the RTVI material.
The IRGC is an elite military-political formation directly subordinate to the Supreme Leader of Iran. In 2019, the United States added the IRGC to the list of terrorist organizations, and the next year, on Trump’s instructions, one of the corps’ leaders, General Qassem Soleimani, was killed in an airstrike in Iraq.
The day before, Axios reported that the White House contacted the IRGC after signing a memorandum of understanding in May of this year. The negotiations, according to the publication, were led by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard (she has since left her post), and a mediator was found in Iraq – the President of Autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani, who studied in Iran. On behalf of Tehran, the negotiations were conducted by Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi. According to two Axios sources, Gabbard called Barzani on May 10 and asked for help in contacting IRGC commander General Ahmad Vahidi. She emphasized that the secret contacts were approved by Trump and US Vice President J.D. Vance.
Barzani agreed, but the IRGC initially refused to allow him to speak with Vahidi. Finally, on May 14, a corps representative arrived at Barzani's office in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, with a special telephone number to call. Barzani relayed the response to Gabbard, who informed the White House. According to one Axios source, the Trump administration, following these contacts, proposed organizing face-to-face negotiations between US and Iranian representatives in Erbil. However, the meeting never took place.
According to Axios, Qatar and Pakistan remain the main mediators between Iran and the United States. They convey mutual messages to the parties, but without any “significant progress,” the publication’s sources in the Middle East noted. They say Pakistan is also sometimes “too optimistic” about its efforts.
The United States and Israel began military operations against Iran at the end of February, killing the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Tehran began retaliating against both Israel and American bases in the Middle East. On Monday, on Truth Social, Trump wrote that the main goal of the operation, at least for the United States, “has always been and will always be” to ensure that Iran does not, under any circumstances, acquire nuclear weapons.
In the Fox News broadcast mentioned above, after declaring that Iran is “dying,” Trump revealed that he has not set a time frame for the operation to be carried out.
“I don’t have any deadlines. “I’m not in a hurry,” said the head of the White House.
He also denied reports in recent days about growing US ammunition shortages. .
“We only used little things,” Trump says. “We have a lot of mid-tier weapons.”
