Amid the devastating regional war, senior Iranian diplomat Abbas Araghchi and US official Steven Witkoff have reportedly established a direct line of communication via text messages focused on ending the conflict.
Amid the escalating regional conflict following the unprecedented US-Israeli military campaign against Iran in early March, Washington and Tehran have quietly reestablished a direct line of communication. According to reports curated by the Qatari state-funded network Al Jazeera and the Iraqi news channel ONE IQ, this diplomatic backchannel is operating primarily through text messages exchanged between senior Iranian diplomat Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steven Witkoff.
Despite the extreme tensions stemming from the ongoing regional war and the recent assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader, backchannel diplomacy has resumed. Quoting an informed source via the US outlet Axios, Al Jazeera reported that the "United States is not conducting talks with Iran and Araghchi is the one who initiated the communication". A separate US official confirmed the "reactivation of the direct communication channel between Witkoff and Araghchi during recent days".
The primary objective of these direct communications appears to be de-escalation. According to an Axios report relayed by ONE IQ, "Araghchi sent text messages to Witkoff focused on ending the war". A parallel report from Israel's Channel 12, also cited by the Iraqi channel, corroborated that the two officials are "communicating these days via text messages".
US officials speaking to Axios indicated that Araghchi was specifically targeted as a point of contact due to established historical ties and familiarity between the parties, noting that "Araghchi is the most suitable person to communicate with because we have a previous relationship with him".
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