According to a U.S. official and a source familiar with the situation, a direct communications channel between U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has been reactivated in recent days.
How substantive the messages exchanged between Witkoff and Araghchi were remains unclear. However, this is the first known direct contact between the two sides since the war began more than two weeks ago.
According to the U.S. official and a source briefed on the matter, it was Araghchi who sent text messages to Witkoff, with the main focus of the exchanges being the prospect of ending the war.
Drop Site News reported on Monday, March 16, that Witkoff had sent messages to Araghchi and cited Iranian officials who claimed the Iranian foreign minister was ignoring messages from the White House envoy.
A U.S. official, however, said the initiative for contact came from Araghchi, while insisting that the United States “is not negotiating” with Iran. Neither of the sources would specify how many messages had been exchanged or what exactly they contained.
On Monday, President Donald Trump said that Iran had reached out to the United States, though it remains unclear whether the Iranian representatives involved had the authority to strike a deal.
“They want to make a deal. They are talking to our people… we have people who want to negotiate, but we have no idea who they are,” Trump told reporters.
Despite doubts about Tehran’s readiness to reach an agreement, Trump said he does not object to talks with Iran—“because sometimes something good comes out of it.”
He also said it is unclear who is making decisions in Iran, as many senior officials have been killed. According to Trump, the country’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has not appeared in public and “may be dead.”
A senior U.S. official dismissed Iran’s demand for “reparations” as part of any potential peace agreement, but noted that Trump remains open to a deal that would allow Iran to “integrate into the rest of the world and earn money from its oil.”
“The president is always open to a deal. But he does not negotiate from a position of weakness. He will not abandon the reasons this conflict began,” the official said.
In recent days, Iranian officials have publicly insisted that they are not negotiating a ceasefire with the Trump administration.
According to them, Tehran is not interested in a temporary ceasefire that would allow the United States and Israel to regroup and launch another strike, and is demanding guarantees that any peace agreement would be final.
Before the war began, Araghchi was not considered one of Iran’s key decision-makers, and U.S. officials do not believe he holds such authority today.
Nevertheless, according to sources, Iran’s foreign minister is acting in coordination with Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, who effectively became the country’s civilian leader after the assassination of former supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
U.S. officials view Araghchi as the primary interlocutor largely because they already have an established channel of communication with him—and because he is still alive.