US President Donald Trump has acknowledged that Vice President JD Vance wrote to Iranian authorities, but downplayed the significance of his outreach, saying it was focused on offering medical supplies to the country.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Mr Vance sent a letter to Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, in a bid to revive peace negotiations.
Mr Trump directed Mr Vance to send the letter, the Journal said, quoting US officials.
But the US President said “no”, when asked by reporters if he had directed Mr Vance to restart peace negotiations.
He acknowledged giving the Vice President his approval to reach out to Tehran.
"They need help with medical supplies and various things. He asked me what I thought, I said if you want to do that, that's OK," Mr Trump said. "Basically it's about getting supplies in to help people that are not well."
The outreach comes amid growing fears that the US-Iran war could resume fighting, possibly after midterm elections in the US next week.
The conflict is now in its eighth month, with little indication that a peace settlement is imminent.
Mediators from Pakistan, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey have been trying to narrow the differences between Iran and the US.
The war has disrupted global energy supplies and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, driving up oil and gas prices and fuelling inflationary pressures worldwide, while raising concerns over economic growth and the cost of living.
Oil prices declined on Thursday following reports of new diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, aimed at averting possible US military action against Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country was speaking with mediators to carry out Tehran's seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
"We remain in close and ongoing contact with intermediaries to review ideas that can ensure implementation of our Seven-Day Plan in even less than a week," Mr Araghchi said in a post on X.
Iran presented the proposal in September, when Mr Araghchi said the strait could reopen if certain conditions were met. Mr Trump rejected it, leading to further Qatari mediation.
Attacks on shipping continued in the Strait of Hormuz and adjacent waters. The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said it received a report on Thursday of an incident in the, about 16 kilometres north of Khasab, Oman. The master of a third-party ship reported seeing another vessel on fire, the agency said, adding that the crew's status was unknown.
A damage assessment or environmental impact report was not yet available, the UKMTO said. It advised ships to cross with caution and report any suspicious activity.
Shortly afterwards, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that three tankers exploded and caught fire after hitting sea mines while attempting to pass through an unauthorised route south of the strategic strait over a 24-hour period.
The tankers had switched off their transponders and navigation systems and ignored warnings from the IRGC navy, Iranian state media reported.
Turkish diplomatic efforts
In another diplomatic effort, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Mr Trump by phone that Ankara was working on resolving issues in the Strait of Hormuz and in Yemen, under its defence alliance with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the Turkish leader's office said.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi rebels are fighting the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised Yemeni government as well as Saudi Arabia.
In recent weeks, the Houthi rebels have launched repeated attacks against the kingdom – a key US ally and the world's largest crude exporter – opening a new front in the Middle East war.
Fighting intensified last month as the Houthis advanced against Saudi-backed forces towards the Bab Al Mandeb Strait, another important shipping lane, on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula from Hormuz.
On Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said it had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis towards Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province. Warnings were issued earlier for both the Najran and Eastern provinces.
Meanwhile, Aden International Airport resumed normal operations after a temporary suspension following an attack by the Houthis on Wednesday evening, Yemen's transport minister said.
