Iran has opened a new “channel of communication” with mediators in an effort to arrange a meeting with US officials in New York and “break the deadlock” in the war, a source close to the Iranian delegation told The National on Tuesday.
The news comes after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Trump is open to meeting the Iranian delegation on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
“New York is a platform for Iran to present its position on the war. There is now a new channel of communication with the Americans through the Pakistanis and Qataris, who are intensifying their contacts in New York in an effort to break the deadlock and meet,” said the source.
“Our trust is in the mediators and in the guarantees that the Americans must provide,” added the source. “The choice at the New York meeting is between two paths: either escalation, futility and chaos, or allowing reason to prevail and returning to the path of settlement and negotiations.”
Iran had signalled a renewed willingness to revive diplomacy with the US as its President, Masoud Pezeshkian, headed to New York to attend the UN General Assembly. In two separate reports after Mr Pezeshkian took off for the UN annual gathering, senior Iranian officials said Tehran had offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if Washington eases military pressure and lifts its blockade.
Mr Pezeshkian is due to address the General Assembly on Wednesday and hold meetings with foreign leaders, Iranian expatriates, US experts and think tank members, state media reported.
On Tuesday, Mr Trump is due to meet Gulf and Arab officials to discuss the Iran war and ways to ease the conflict after months of Iranian missile and drone attacks on Arab states.
Gulf officials have said in recent days that dialogue with Iran must remain on the table, acknowledging that rebuilding trust will not happen overnight but that the process has to start somewhere.
According to sources with knowledge of the meeting, President Trump has conveyed messages that he will try to “persuade” representatives of Arab nations to sit down with Iranian officials.
“He is hoping that representatives of the two sides will meet in Oman later this month to start a reconciliation process that ends hostilities and recalibrates relations,” said one source.
