With our correspondent in Washington, Vincent Souriau
There is indeed a chat channel. The information has was confirmed by the New York Times from American and Iranian sources. According to the New York daily, the American administration’s interlocutor would be Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Steve Witkoff, the White House emissary, would have been in direct contact with him in recent days, but at a much less advanced stage than Donald Trump proclaims in public. For the moment, these are the beginnings of a possible negotiation.
Tehran wants lasting peace
Iran does not want a temporary ceasefire. According to the New York Timesthe Iranian regime demands lasting peace and above all the guarantee that if the conflict stops, the United States and Israel will not resume their bombings. This may seem illusory given the content of the Israeli Prime Minister’s speech Benjamin Netanyahubut Tehran has arguments: it can still maintain pressure on the Strait of Hormuz and its capacity to strike Israel and the Gulf countries which has not been destroyed despite more than three weeks of intensive strikes.
Iran has shown that it is capable of withstanding blows and it will be necessary Donald Trump provides solid assurances, in particular that we can still negotiate with the White House and that the American president is not going to repeat the pattern of February 28 when he launched the war alongside Israel while negotiations with the Iranian regime were still underway in Geneva.