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US President Donald Trump said that his Vice President J.D. Vance's outreach to Iran was aimed at helping Tehran obtain medical supplies, after US media reported that Vance had sent a message to Tehran's top security official to revive talks aimed at ending the war.
The semi-official Iranian Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday that Tehran had received a message from Vance but had not yet responded to it.
The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times quoted US officials and informed sources as saying on Wednesday that Vance had directed the message to the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, Mohsen Rezaee, in an effort to revive war-ending negotiations. Reuters has not yet been able to verify these reports.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Vance sent the message at Trump's direction. When asked by reporters later on Wednesday whether he had directed Vance to contact Iran to resume war-ending negotiations, Trump replied, "No."
Trump told reporters, "The thing is, they need help with medical supplies and various other things. He (Vance) asked me what I thought. I said: If you want to do it, that's fine. Basically, it's about getting supplies to help the sick."
The Iranian mission to the United Nations in New York has not yet responded to a request for comment on the message and Trump's statement. Vance's office has also not yet responded to a request for comment.
The United States and Israel launched a war on Iran at the end of February. Since then, Washington has imposed a naval blockade on Iran to deprive it of oil export revenues, and has also stepped up its efforts to economically isolate the Islamic Republic.
Iran has long blamed US sanctions for hindering civilians' access to medical supplies.
In a letter sent in August to the UN Security Council, Iran accused the United States of deliberately depriving civilians "of access to food, medicine, medical equipment, energy, and other necessities, with dire consequences for their rights to life, health, food, and an adequate standard of living."
Qatari mediators delivered a new draft agreement to end the war to Iran on Sunday, but a senior Iranian official said that Doha had only put forward unacceptable ideas that did not amount to an offer.
The impact of the war on global energy costs has cast a shadow over support for Republican candidates and has also affected Trump's popularity ahead of the US midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
The US President's Republican Party holds a slim majority in both houses of Congress.
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