After reports in the US media of secret contacts between the US and the Revolutionary Guards, Donald Trump has confirmed that such contacts have taken place.
In an interview with Fox News, the US president said about the IRGC: ‘They are good poker players, but they are weakening.’
Earlier, the American news website Axios reported, citing informed sources, that about a month before the signing of the memorandum of understanding with Iran, the US had contacted the IRGC through the mediation of Nechirvan Barzani, the President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
According to the report, the US wanted to know whether the IRGC and its leadership were supporting the Iranian delegation led by Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Abbas Araqchi in the negotiations. The US also wanted to know whether the IRGC had any separate opinions or demands regarding the negotiations.
According to Axios, thanks to Nechirvan Barzani’s efforts, an IRGC official finally reached Barzani’s office in Erbil with a phone with a secret communication system. The Kurdistan Region president later spoke to IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi on the same phone.
According to the report, Ahmad Vahidi said in the conversation that he “fully” supported the Iranian negotiators.
Axios cited three sources, including a White House official, as saying that after talking to Ahmad Vahidi, Nechirvan Barzani conveyed his views to US officials. However, Axios did not name its sources.
According to the report, Washington also wanted Barzani to arrange a secret meeting between senior US officials and Iranian negotiators in Erbil, but the meeting never took place due to security concerns on the Iranian side.
On the other hand, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghai rejected these reports, saying: “The news of a secret meeting between Iran and the United States in Erbil is completely fabricated.”
The Revolutionary Guards have also rejected reports of any kind of contact between Iran and the United States.
Reacting to Donald Trump’s statement, in which he confirmed media reports of secret contacts between the United States and the Revolutionary Guards, IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said: “Trump’s claim is a lie and just a figment of imagination and nightmares that are the result of the illusions and nightmares that arise from the failure and helplessness in the war.”
In an interview with Tasnim news agency, Brigadier Mohebbi said: “Trump is trying to temporarily control the prices of oil and energy in the world through these statements, but he has only one real way out, and that is to admit his defeat and accept the conditions set by Iran.”
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