Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, went to the White House on Thursday to lay out military options against Iran for President Trump, the Wall Street Journal reported, according to the Times of Israel. War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine sat in.
The same day, Iran’s Tasnim news agency confirmed that Tehran “has received a letter from US Vice President JD Vance, but it has not responded to it yet,” Reuters reported.
Yesterday’s Self Reliance Central report covered Iran’s rejection of Qatar’s seven-day peace plan and the Journal’s report that Washington told Gulf allies to prepare for strikes after Tuesday’s midterms. The briefing and the letter are the two newest moves.
The letter
Vance wrote to Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and, according to the Journal as quoted by ZeroHedge, “Iran’s longest-serving commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.” Qatari mediators passed it along Sunday, Al Jazeera reported.
The New York Times reported that the letter proposed a meeting soon, with Vance leading the U.S. side, and said Iran’s nuclear program must be on the table from the start. Qatar and Turkey were named as possible venues, and talks could come as soon as next week if Iran agrees.
Rezaei is no moderate. In August he asked on state TV, “Why shouldn’t we pursue nuclear weapons ourselves?” according to Iran International.
Trump: “It’s getting supplies in”
Asked Wednesday whether he had sent Vance to restart peace talks, Trump said, “No.”
“What that is is they need help with medical supplies and various things,” he told reporters, according to Reuters. “He asked me what I thought. I said, if you want to do that, that’s okay. Basically, it’s getting supplies in to help people that are not well.”
Tasnim said Iran still insists on seven conditions it has set for Washington and that “any position that contradicts this framework is unacceptable.” Its conditions were not spelled out.
The buildup
More than 10 U.S. military transport planes landed at Israel’s Nevatim and Ovda air bases over the past week, most from Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso, according to analysts tracking flight data cited by the Times of Israel. Their cargo is not known. The Journal also reported a Patriot air-defense battery is moving from Texas to the region.
The Journal reported that Washington and Jerusalem are weighing a “short but intensive operation” after the Nov. 3 election aimed at Iranian energy sites, nuclear facilities and missile and drone stocks. Trump has not made a final decision. Meanwhile, three tankers hit sea mines south of the Strait of Hormuz and caught fire, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said.
The bottom line
The administration is running two tracks at once, and that is the right way to deal with Tehran. Vance has opened a door for a direct meeting, with the nuclear program on the table from day one. At the same time, the President’s top commander is briefing him on targets, and cargo planes are landing in Israel.
Iran’s answer so far is a list of seven demands it won’t make public. A regime whose security chief openly mused about building a bomb is in no position to set preconditions while its own mines are setting tankers on fire.
Tehran should take the meeting. If it won’t, Trump has made clear he has other options ready.