Vice President JD Vance contacted Iranian officials to offer humanitarian aid, President Donald Trump said Wednesday, the latest instance of the war-skeptical top official engaging with the Iranians through diplomatic channels.
Trump said he gave Vance the okay to do so but denied that he had instructed his vice president to resume peace negotiations with Iran.
“No,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews, when asked whether he had directed Vance to revive peace talks with Iran, explaining that he had merely granted the vice president permission to offer the country humanitarian supplies.
“They need help with medical supplies and various things,” Trump said before departing for a rally in Ohio. “He asked me what I thought. I said if you want to do that, that’s okay. Basically, it’s getting supplies in to help people that are not well.”
The White House and the vice president’s office did not immediately provide information on the offer made to the Iranians, or whether Vance is seeking to revive peace negotiations with Iran.
The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported that Vance sent a letter to Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Trump earlier this year tapped Vance to lead negotiations with Iranian officials about an end to the war, including attending in-person talks in Pakistan in April. A memorandum of understanding for a temporary ceasefire ultimately fell apart.
One day before Trump launched the strikes on Iran in February that led to the current conflict, Vance said in an interview with The Washington Post that he was a “skeptic of foreign military interventions” who preferred “the diplomatic option” to stop Iran’s nuclear program.
The Iraq War veteran said that even if Trump chose to conduct further strikes, there was “no chance” the president would lead the United States into another years-long, drawn-out war in the Middle East.
U.S. military officials estimate that the Trump administration’s war with Iran has cost more than $47 billion through mid-October, a rise of more than $3 billion over the past several weeks, according to a document reviewed by The Post.
The total includes $29 billion in munitions that have been fired by U.S. forces since the conflict began eight months ago, the document shows. The destruction of other weapons platforms, such as fighter jets, has cost $6 billion, it says.
The latest figures do not account for damage to U.S. bases in the region, especially facilities in the Persian Gulf, which have been battered by Iranian drones and ballistic missiles.
The estimate was compiled by U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East. It marks the military’s latest and most detailed tally of the Iran war’s financial costs. Central Command last projected that the war had cost at least $43.6 billion through early September.
The rising expense has forced the Pentagon to shift billions of dollars from within its existing budget to cover shortfalls caused by the conflict as the military has had to rush troops and equipment to the Middle East and keep them there for months on end.
Per the most recent estimate, the Air Force has spent about $7.6 billion to sustain the military operation, whereas the Army and the Navy have spent $2 billion and $1.45 billion, respectively.
The United States has two aircraft carriers in the region, the USS George Washington and the USS George H.W. Bush. A third carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, is on its way.
The Navy has used the cessation of hostilities to restock ships with munitions and supplies, completing a significant replenishment of weapons for the USS George Washington last week.
More than 2,500 troops are operating THAAD and Patriot air-defense interceptor systems across the Middle East, representing roughly one-third of the Army’s missile defense units.
The Iran war, which was initiated by the Trump administration in tandem with Israel on Feb. 28, has proved deeply unpopular with the American public, polling shows. It has emerged as a central issue in next week’s midterm elections, with voters frustrated by the soaring cost of gas and other goods linked to Tehran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
At the outset of the conflict, Trump predicted that hostilities would be over in about five weeks. His administration has been unable to secure a lasting ceasefire on terms that the president finds favorable to American interests, however, and he has threatened to resume attacks on Iran after the midterms.
As concern about the possibility of Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran has grown in recent weeks, mediation efforts between the U.S. and Iran, led by Qatar, have been quietly ramping up, according to two officials briefed on the negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive diplomacy.
While the possibility of renewed U.S. or Israeli strikes is real, there is more “positive momentum” behind the talks than there has been in months, according one of those officials.
Qatari mediators have been working “hard” on a deal that would see Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz for commercial shipping in exchange for the U.S. lifting its naval blockade on Iran’s ports that has caused a raft of economic problems for Tehran, said a senior diplomat involved in the discussions.
A key hurdle has been figuring out the sequencing of the concessions. Washington is pushing for Iran to make a number of concessions on the front end, such as restrictions on its nuclear program, while Tehran has pushed back, said the diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic dealings.
It is far from clear that renewed U.S. strikes on Iran would bring the conflict to a quick end.
While Iran is suffering significant economic pain because of the war and the U.S. naval blockade, recent classified assessments by the CIA conclude that Iran has several months of food and fuel stockpiled that would help it mitigate the effects of the revived U.S. military campaign Trump has threatened, a U.S. official said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.
Iran could respond to fresh U.S. strikes in three ways, the assessments say. It might attempt further restrictions of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, cranking up economic costs for the United States. It could attempt violent terrorist attacks on U.S. targets globally. And it could conduct cyberoperations against assets in the United States.
Across the Gulf in recent weeks, leaders have signaled that they are prepared for a possible escalatory phase and emphasized the importance of mediation.
Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi — who has been involved in mediation efforts before and during the war — called Monday for Gulf nations to create a security structure that includes Iran and does not rely on foreign powers.
“It is us in the Gulf who ultimately bear the responsibility … for implementing a new regional security structure,” he said during a lecture at the University of Cambridge. “The time has come when it no longer makes sense just to blame everyone else.”
In Bahrain, where the massive U.S. naval base was hard hit during retaliatory strikes by Iran, there was nervousness Wednesday about the possibility of renewed strikes — and some frustration with the United States.
The vast majority of Navy personnel at the base have been evacuated, and senior leaders have acknowledged its uncertain future.
One Bahraini opposition leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said Trump had gotten Bahrain into a war and then abandoned the country.
The Bahraini leader noted they had read reports Wednesday that the U.S. was sending an additional Patriot system to Israel, rather than to Bahrain or Gulf neighbors.
“We see where the U.S. help is going,” the person said. “And we know we have not benefited.”
Tara Copp contributed to this report.
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